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ArenaNet Studio Update: The Future of Guild Wars 2 – GuildWars2.com[News] -- Developer response (guildwars2.com)

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[–]DancingDumpling 762 points763 points  (135 children)

This long-term focus is paying off—we’re seeing incredible growth in the community. In fact, the number of active Guild Wars 2 players has more than doubled over the last three years. This growth has helped Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons outsell our previous expansion, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire. Not bad for a game getting ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

I certainly did not expect this, what fantastic news.

here's to many more years of this game

Edit: an expac confirmed too??? LFG

One last update before we go: we’re happy to confirm that there will be a fourth expansion for Guild Wars 2! We mean it when we say we’re focused on the long-term. This is a very early confirmation (the earliest we’ve ever done this, in fact), so don’t expect news anytime soon. Expansions take a very long time to develop. Plus, there’s plenty of cool things to look forward to between now and then.

[–]Chabb 427 points428 points  (33 children)

With a title like "End of Dragons" and people's constant assumption it was the end of GW2 or it would go into maintenance mode, I guess they had to be aggressive about the future lol

[–]Kanyren 127 points128 points  (5 children)

GOOD! I wish they would have done this 8 years ago and I'm ecstatic they're finally starting to set long term expectations.

  • When HOT came out we wondered for more than half a year if Living World would return and in what capacity

  • Throughout the entirety of season 3 we had no idea how many episodes there would be

  • When POF came out everyone just assumed we would get another expac, but it was never confirmed and this fucked them HARD when they announced the Icebrood Saga, because everyone was expecting an expac announcement

This is one of the first times I as a player know exactly the scope I can expect over the next 2 years and it feels so much fucking better to not have to constantly worry how the game may look a year from now.

[–]will_sccAuldon.1972 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Hit the nail on the head. Some actual long term planning (that's being communicated to players) for once.

I expect Grouch is a big factor in that.

[–]alkeri0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I suspect predictability plays a part in FFXIV's success. Barring 2020 pandemic, they've had an incredibly predictable patch and expansion cycle that keeps things very steady for both the consumer and the company.

I'd never say I want the two to be the same game, but I sure as hell appreciate taking notes from that in this regard.

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    [–]TheLostExplorer7 12 points13 points  (2 children)

    Anytime you have a title with "End" in it, people will assume that it is "The End" of the story.

    Hilariously, there are people who still insist that Endwalker is the definitive end of FF14, even though the devs have been adamant that it is merely the end of the current also decade long story arc.

    Is it just funny that the two MMOs that I still play came out with an expansion with End in their titles within months of each other?

    [–]Draxx01 7 points8 points  (4 children)

    Primordis is gone now - we can finally retake the Asura homeland, turn the dwarves flesh again, aside from that poor dude whose just a face and a thumb, etc. There's tons of stuff to explore imo.

    [–]Millillion 10 points11 points  (3 children)

    Actually just a face now, I deleted his thumb.

    [–]Lon-amiLoreleidre [HoS] 124 points125 points  (13 children)

    It's not about being aggressive or defensive, it's just about giving players something to look forward to, all companies announce stuff months or years in advance to keep players interested, ArenaNet's "wait until the last minute" attitude is awful for customer morale.

    The sooner this changes the better.

    [–]lonesharkex 37 points38 points  (6 children)

    Tbh having come from gw1 I expected this to be it. I'm very pleasantly surprised by this announcement.

    [–]Rydralain 25 points26 points  (5 children)

    Didn’t GW1 have an expansion announced that got canceled when GW2 was announced?

    [–]HoojiwatHopium springs eternal 48 points49 points  (2 children)

    It did indeed. I am imaging the supreme irony of GW2 announcing its next expansion will be going to Utopia...and then it cancels it and instead launches GW3.

    [–]auriken.6805 Necrotising Fasciitis 18 points19 points  (0 children)

    unreal 5 for gw3, let's goooo

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      [–]MayaSanguineSimping for the Betrayer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

      That would be Utopia, and a lot of its cancelled content (including a Beyond episode covering Joko) would be later recycled into GW2.

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            [–]TulkiSuper Science Cat 156 points157 points  (32 children)

            GW2 is sticking around like a (good) bad cold, apparently. There's too much smart design about it even today that it's hard to play other MMOs without feeling frustrated about a lot of their decisions. This is probably going to sound needlessly aggressive, but the leveling/questing experience and combat systems of modern MMOs / loot games still feel dated compared to core Tyria GW2 of all things.

            I'm somewhat skeptical because this blog post honestly seems to be promising the moon. They're cooking up season 1, (TBD) season 6 and expansion 4 at once, with promises for even more communication and a steam launch, and also WvW restructuring. That seems like more irons in the fire than they've ever had before. If they pull all that off then it's kind of absurd. I hope they do.

            [–]CallMeBigPapaya 82 points83 points  (6 children)

            Yeah it's kind of funny. Sometimes GW2 pisses me off and I drop it for a couple months. Sometimes I'll still have a craving for an MMO and I'll try something else. Without fail, trying another MMO lasts about a month before coming back to GW2.

            [–]Can_You_Believe_It_ 71 points72 points  (1 child)

            GW2 just has too much convenience in it for me to fully switch to anything else. I've taken very long breaks over time since launch but no other MMO has fully grabbed me.

            No other MMO I've played has let me mix and match and customize a build with ease like GW2 has. Almost every other game either has an insane grind for gear or loads the game with useless stats and perks which make getting a well rolled gear piece nearly impossible without again grinding insane amounts of time.

            [–]finalremix"Laugh at your pains." 34 points35 points  (1 child)

            It's a cozy game.

            [–]analogic-microwave 4 points5 points  (0 children)

            it doesn't even have housing but still feels like home.

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              [–]blackspade94GW 18 points19 points  (0 children)

              If they manage to pull off all of this and not another IBS shenanigans then it is truly ArenaNet redemption arc.

              [–]rym1469www.twitch.tv/rymm_ 14 points15 points  (9 children)

              Perhaps it's the difference of having clear goals and good leadership

              [–]TannenFalconwingWillbender is my new love 52 points53 points  (2 children)

              During Season 3 and into Path of Fire this is what it was like. I'd almost forgotten that feeling.

              [–]greiton 42 points43 points  (1 child)

              this is what it feels like when anet focuses on gw2. hopefully they don't get distracted by shiny new ip's that never see the light of day again. last time we lost a huge chunk of critical devs and that led to major content drought and wvw updates being put off for a couple years.

              [–]Grateful_Cat_Monk 9 points10 points  (0 children)

              They're probably focusing more since that project they were working on got canceled before even a title release. So they're probably putting more manpower back into the game. I suspect that's what those layoffs awhile back were for, people in a position that wasn't needed anymore.

              [–]SonicFury74Core Revenant Main 21 points22 points  (0 children)

              To be fair, a lot that goes into content is:
              - Storyboarding
              - Art Direction
              - Asset Creation
              - Enemy Balance

              Season 1 is already written and will most likely be using a lot of old if not upscaled assets. The difficulty is in coding new events and stories but otherwise, it's not as big of an undertaking as a normal living world season. I trust them to make it more modern feeling but it's not the hugest undertaking.

              As for Expansion 4, it's highly unlikely that they're really "working" on it right now. It's probably still in the drafting phase where they're deciding where they want the expansion to take place and where the big bad will be. Plus figuring out what masteries to add next.

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                [–]volivav 107 points108 points  (51 children)

                New Expansion? Does this mean tengu will finally be a playable race?

                ​

                /meme

                [–]ReLiFeD.1475 Platinum Sylvari 66 points67 points  (44 children)

                Jokes aside, they're in the very starting phase of said expansion, so the community can definitely let them know what features are desired to help them shape said expansion

                [–]devlerGW2 Veteran 154 points155 points  (30 children)

                Proper Player housing.

                [–]Miraweave 172 points173 points  (7 children)

                Detective Rama dating sim

                [–]migmak1993 24 points25 points  (0 children)

                I never understood getting gitty over perfect man meat like Rama, until I met Rama.

                [–]TheSilverNail 32 points33 points  (5 children)

                Oh, come on, you just want the hat!

                [–]Miraweave 64 points65 points  (4 children)

                I would like to take his hat and also the rest of his clothes tyvm

                [–]giotheflow 30 points31 points  (1 child)

                Blunt but understandable

                [–]ramsbina 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                Alexa play Joe Cocker - You Can Leave Your Hat On

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                    [–]DancingDumpling 24 points25 points  (2 children)

                    Just straight rip housing and/or archaeology from ESO

                    [–]ghostplanetstudios 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                    This. My homes/mansions/castles in ESO make it feel like home. It’s hard for other MMOs to match the feeling but ANet can for sure try.

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                            [–]CommanderZim 517 points518 points  (25 children)

                            This seems pretty exciting. Getting S1 back in will be fantastic for new people. I've been trying to get friends leveled/through core and I've been dreading having to explain the characters that just appear in S2.

                            Confirmation of a new map for Cantha, support will continue for a 4th expac, and a steam release hopefully this year. Seems like a good way to shore up the game and get the game on a solid path.

                            [–]rreapr 97 points98 points  (7 children)

                            I’ve been playing for 7 years and I still get that “confused left out new guy” feeling about S1, lol

                            Pretty sure I joined something like a week before LA was rebuilt. It was confusing as shit and always made story stuff jarring to go through. Took years for me to give a shit about a lot of the characters because I just completely missed their introduction and the start of their character development. I’m excited to finally see the story as it was meant to be.

                            I really hope they put some good work into the new player experience in general - I know it’s unrealistic, but if I could pick one additional thing for them to dedicate a shitload of effort to, it would be the starter maps and story instances. I look at em fondly because I’ve been playing for a while, but for people signing on in 2022, they haven’t aged super well - and new players have to get through the parts where the game really shows its age in order to reach the new, polished stuff.

                            It feels like Anet’s fix for that has been expac sales and level boosters so people can skip that content entirely - but imo they should invest in making that content good enough to hook people too. A lot of friends I’ve introduced to this game struggled to get all that interested in it because the beginner experience just isn’t on the same level as the rest of the game.

                            [–]Gropapanda 25 points26 points  (3 children)

                            Don't worry about it. Been here since beta, but took a break about 2 weeks into S1. So even I was shocked by the characters when I returned halfway through S2.

                            [–]typhlownage 7 points8 points  (1 child)

                            I took a break about halfway into S1, came back after HoT was announced, and then played through S2.

                            I remember meeting Rox and Braham. I remember when Southsun was introduced, which was when Kas, Jory, and Canach were introduced, though I don't remember meeting them specifically. Who the hell is this "Taimi", and why is she one of my BFFs?

                            So I totally get how the lack of playability has people who never experienced any of S1 feeling super confused.

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                                [–]TheIrishPotatoes 107 points108 points  (2 children)

                                I remember just reading a post about this exact problem a week ago their friends hated not knowing who anyone was

                                [–]CommanderZim 39 points40 points  (1 child)

                                That's exactly what instilled that fear. haha

                                [–]TwiceCookedPorkins 14 points15 points  (1 child)

                                LWS1 is like the only content I ever missed. I've been playing throughout everything else.

                                [–]Vtepes 14 points15 points  (1 child)

                                Not just new people! I've been playing since beta and season 1 released while I was on hiatus and have always felt like I missed out :(

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                                  [–]AegonTheMeh 422 points423 points  (74 children)

                                  Love to hear that EoD outsold PoF. Guild Wars not going anywhere.

                                  [–]kalamari__I am just here to chew bubblegum and read qq 104 points105 points  (6 children)

                                  steam release will be huge too!

                                  [–]Acanthisittibae 43 points44 points  (4 children)

                                  They just need to name it 'GW2 Reborn' or something to get people to actually pay attention or something lol. Everyone I speak to has no interest thinking its a dead game.

                                  [–]Big_Papa95 24 points25 points  (0 children)

                                  I’m sorry but just imo, anyone who parrots the “ded game” rhetoric without having any basis or context honestly isn’t the kind of person we need here anyway. Like, it really doesn’t take much looking to see that GW2 is and has been an incredibly active and thriving game.

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                                      [–]MechaSandstar 204 points205 points  (37 children)

                                      Just shows that mike was wrong to divert money away from GW2 for those shitty mobile games. GW2 was, and is fantastic, and they should've invested in it a long time ago.

                                      [–]TreasureHunter2182 124 points125 points  (19 children)

                                      Well, I think the pandemic was a blessing in disguise as well! Lots of people were forced to find new hobbies, and I'm sure GW2 has experienced a fair amount of growth these past couple years. I don't want to spend too much time focusing on past wrongs.

                                      [–]howdyhedberg 29 points30 points  (1 child)

                                      Anet made some money from me since the pandemic started. I got all the expansions, paid some for the LS that I had missed to unlock and some gems, and on top of that some more cash for the new expansion.

                                      Before that I only had gw1 and base GW2.

                                      [–]Despada_Act with wisdom, but act. 51 points52 points  (6 children)

                                      People focused on ffXIV during the latest WoW exodus, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other big MMOs (GW2 included) saw a nice spike in players. Wasn't there an "I'm a WoW player, and Gw2 is great" post yesterday?

                                      [–]SheenaMalfoy.8079 Oweiyn 36 points37 points  (0 children)

                                      At the time there were dozens of "ex-WoW player here" posts on this subreddit. Dunno how much they were proportional to those that went to other mmos, but if we got that many posts about it, then we probably got 10x or more as many (non-posting) players.

                                      [–]RedLikeARosecan't stop, won't stop, not untill I say so 15 points16 points  (2 children)

                                      During the WoW exodus there were plenty of people comming here as well, just a bit less in comparison due to FF having a bigger IP i guess

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                                        [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (1 child)

                                        Blizzard probably also helped. I guess when FFXIV was getting an influx of WoW players, GW2 was also.

                                        [–]Spartan0508923411 human females 38 points39 points  (6 children)

                                        Yeah March-May 2020 there was a noticeable uptick in activity and it never really went away.

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                                          [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 34 points35 points  (11 children)

                                          Exactly. Like, it's obviously smart to diversify somewhat into making new games. But it is baffling to me how much seems to have been pulled. Reports were that, as early as Kourna, GW2 was being operated on a skeleton crew while everyone else was on the other projects. But then those just... fall through? How do you, as a business owner, pull SO MANY people off your literal only source of income onto a project that is that easy to kill? The teams should have been reversed. Small team making a demo of the new thing to pitch to NCSoft. Big team on actual money-maker. Stonks.

                                          [–]Rahkeesh 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                                          While there's ample stupidity in what they did, the trend is probably that PoF sold less than HoT even though it was like half the base price. Notice they did not mention EoD outselling HoT so that is probably still the best selling expansion. So they were looking at a shrinking market and decided to abandon, but abandoned a little too hard.

                                          It sounds like they are still working on a console-focused game as well, so not all their eggs are in the GW2 basket.

                                          [–]MechaSandstar 6 points7 points  (5 children)

                                          Agreed, but to take people away from your cash cow is just insane.

                                          [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 15 points16 points  (4 children)

                                          If the project actually made it, the idea would be that it would be the new cash cow. Or that the two could be developed in tandem. We wouldn't be complaining if it was GW3 on a brand new engine with all kinds of new systems and shit and/or built from the ground up being able to actually be easily developed for instead of spaghetti code etc.

                                          The problem was that obviously, somehow, the new project was one call from NCSoft away from dying and yet they threw everyone at it.

                                          [–]MechaSandstar 5 points6 points  (3 children)

                                          Well, sure. But they weren't working on GW3, but a dune mmo? Why?

                                          [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 7 points8 points  (2 children)

                                          I mean, that also has potential. And it seems like they were working on several things. My understanding was we had some shitty cutesy GW2 themed mobile autorunner game, the Dune MMO, and something with cool new tech in it that devs were desperate to work on. It might have something to do with true dynamic multiplayer experiences because that's what Mike is/was doing with the little studio he founded after leaving ANet.

                                          So, assuming those are the projects we have a decent breakdown

                                          • A scummy mobile game to make easy money
                                          • A new MMO in a new IP that could be a solid source of income and improve ANet's reputation beyond being just the guild wars people
                                          • An out-there tech demo thing that had the potential to revolutionize multiplayer gaming and be a technology that ANet could make money off of licensing it in the future.

                                          If you pull that off, we have a radically different world. ANet's working on GW2 and making bank first off GW2's fully staffed development, then also off the mobile game's easy revenue, then again off the Dune MMO's revenue. All while working on the long-term with the tech demo. ANet goes from a 2 game studio to a 4 game studio.

                                          The problem was that they took so many people off GW2 and put it on some combination of these things. The Dune MMO seems like it was pulled away from them or maybe they didn't impress with their take on it. The mobile game didn't happen for some reason, maybe because someone with a brain looked at it for five seconds. And the tech demo thing was either not ready for prime time or wasn't impressive enough for NCSoft.

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                                            [–]EagleDelta1 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                                            Just shows that mike was wrong to divert money away from GW2 for those shitty mobile games.

                                            This is normal and required behavior of software companies.... more so with gaming companies. In hindsight, it was probably not the best move, but it is pretty normal and standard practice in almost all industries

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                                              [–]ride_light 25 points26 points  (5 children)

                                              EoD outsold PoF, can someone explain:

                                              Do they mean in the same time frame (3 weeks after release of PoF/EoD)? Because 4+ years of selling PoF as main account upgrade would probably be more copies total?

                                              [–]nezroy 36 points37 points  (4 children)

                                              They don't give details and until the next NCSoft quarterly #'s we're only speculating. But they did mention active player count has doubled over the last 3 years so it's possible EoD has already simply outsold the entire history of PoF.

                                              EDIT:

                                              This long-term focus is paying off—we’re seeing incredible growth in the community. In fact, the number of active Guild Wars 2 players has more than doubled over the last three years. This growth has helped Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons outsell our previous expansion, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire.

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                                                [–]Grimjack8130Not the same without 442 points443 points  (3 children)

                                                I love, absolutely love the fact that we're getting very specific dates and we know exactly whats coming out then. Thats a bigger step up on the communication side than I expected. W.

                                                [–]ManakinSkywalker7459 79 points80 points  (1 child)

                                                1000%, was not expecting to see a definitive date for each CM, living world release, etc already after the fiasco of not knowing when EOD would release

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                                                  [–]Silverdisc[Cmaj] twitch.tv/Laranity 803 points804 points  (157 children)

                                                  There will be a fourth expansion.

                                                  THERE WILL BE A FOURTH EXPANSION!

                                                  [–]ConflagrationZAdelbern did the Searing 75 points76 points  (9 children)

                                                  Not to mention that we've now been to all the regions from GW1, so the next expansion will likely take us to somewhere entirely new!

                                                  [–]Lon-amiLoreleidre [HoS] 47 points48 points  (8 children)

                                                  There's still GW1 places we haven't visited (God Realms, Depths of Tyria, etc) but yeah, I hope it's 100% new.

                                                  [–]devlerGW2 Veteran 30 points31 points  (1 child)

                                                  Those are living story worthy maps.

                                                  [–]Skyy-High 10 points11 points  (3 children)

                                                  God realms are probably toast, if Dragonfall is any indication.

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                                                    [–]DiagotBuff Jewelcrafting 213 points214 points  (92 children)

                                                    If that happens I guess the name is going to have three words and the second one is going to be "of".

                                                    [–]mseieicattlepulted 269 points270 points  (31 children)

                                                    "guild of wars"

                                                    [–]Pawikowski 55 points56 points  (1 child)

                                                    Wars of Guilds.

                                                    [–]runereader 64 points65 points  (3 children)

                                                    Colin of Johanson

                                                    [–]JRutterbush 28 points29 points  (22 children)

                                                    Okay in all seriousness as a relatively new casual player... what is up with the "Guild Wars" thing anyway? The only guilds I've seen are player-based, and none of us have gone to war with each other. Was this something the first game focused on and the name is just a legacy thing?

                                                    [–]Spittinglama 90 points91 points  (8 children)

                                                    It's mostly a legacy thing. The original game took place after world changing "guild wars" with different guilds vying for power over bloodstones.

                                                    [–]JRutterbush 41 points42 points  (7 children)

                                                    Oh so even in the original game the actual Guild Wars were in the past? That's definitely an interesting way to title a game.

                                                    [–]MCTL 25 points26 points  (0 children)

                                                    Lore wise yes, the actual guild wars were a Tyrian event. But mechanically there were GvG battles, as well as alliance battles which had you choose a side (kurzick or luxon) and play... 15v15 I think? Which were also a form of guild wars too

                                                    [–]anotherphotocopy 41 points42 points  (3 children)

                                                    People are being kind of unclear about how the title came to be. The game in it's original design stages was meant to be almost entirely a PvP game, with PvE existing as an afterthought / to tutorialize. The direction started to change with PvE getting a little more development, and when it came time to write, they needed to justify the title, wrote in a historic event that they could make the title referential to, and called it a day. It's not even that hugely significant of a thing in the lore's history, but there it is.

                                                    [–]MechaSandstar 21 points22 points  (2 children)

                                                    Well, sort of. The guild wars, which weakened the human empires, along with Abaddon giving magic to the flame legion, is what lead to the searing, and thus the events of the first game (and nightfall)

                                                    [–]the_vizirChampion on Mwwwwwwwwww 23 points24 points  (1 child)

                                                    The Guild Wars lead to the searing, the White Mantles' rise in Kryta, and the destruction of Orr. Those are still big things in GW2.

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                                                      [–]Rumpeskaft 22 points23 points  (2 children)

                                                      Even in the first game it was weird. Lorewise it was a historical event that had concluded shortly before the start of the GW1 story. But as far as I know, 'guild wars' as a gameplay feature were a part of the earlier plans for the original game, when it was supposed to be much more PvP focused. They just never changed the name.

                                                      [–]t1r1g0n 12 points13 points  (0 children)

                                                      In GW1 you could at least play GvG matches. I mean you technically can in WvW this year days too, but it's definitely not the same.

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                                                        [–]Daddydactyl 41 points42 points  (4 children)

                                                        "The guild wars" was an actual war that happened either during or around the first game. In the second game, we are part of a guild known as "dragons watch", so it's technically a war between a guild and the dragons they watch.

                                                        But then also WvW kinda feels like a war between guilds.

                                                        I do agree that there should be more guild stuff I a game name guild wars.

                                                        [–]SunajaRat main with a house of Cats 8 points9 points  (0 children)

                                                        TL;DR: Wiki page link explaining "The Guild Wars" because I don't know much about it either.

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                                                            [–]RazorNionNion.5049 (Fellow GW2 Artist & Memer) 31 points32 points  (1 child)

                                                            Of of Of

                                                            [–]lonezolfAugury Rock [FR] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                                                            FoM.

                                                            Fourth of Many

                                                            [–]Liddlebitchboy 13 points14 points  (0 children)

                                                            Return of Snargle

                                                            [–]Miraweave 84 points85 points  (7 children)

                                                            Start of Quaggans, it's about Elder Quaggans taking over the world (they have no actual power but everyone just lets them because they're cute)

                                                            [–]Shufflepants 21 points22 points  (0 children)

                                                            You better let the meek inherit Tyria, because you wouldn't like them when they're angry.

                                                            [–]kessy628 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                            shutupandtakemymoney.gif

                                                            [–]folstar 16 points17 points  (0 children)

                                                            ANET, hire this person!

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                                                              [–]kare_kano 12 points13 points  (0 children)

                                                              Buns of Steel

                                                              [–]CallMeBigPapaya 56 points57 points  (19 children)

                                                              I'm praying for Depths of Tyria. Huge crystal caverns, the ruins of asurans and other races, and underground ecosystems that eventually lead us to the other side of Tyria on a new continent.

                                                              After PoF and EoD, I have a hankering for exploring wild and unknown dangers again like in HoT. I desperately want to feel overwhelmed by the game again.

                                                              [–]DiagotBuff Jewelcrafting 7 points8 points  (10 children)

                                                              Imagine the verticality on there.

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                                                                [–]Razlyk 41 points42 points  (5 children)

                                                                End of Elementalists

                                                                [–]Canazza 4 points5 points  (2 children)

                                                                Call of The Void

                                                                [–]Silverdisc[Cmaj] twitch.tv/Laranity 12 points13 points  (1 child)

                                                                Biggest of Hype Trains

                                                                [–]MithranArkanere🌟 SUGGEST-A-TRON 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                                                                Out of Bounds.

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                                                                  [–]HoojiwatHopium springs eternal 77 points78 points  (30 children)

                                                                  I figured from the way they were hiring and updating the engine, but it's always nice to have confirmation.

                                                                  UTOPIA OR BUST!

                                                                  [–]MithranArkanere🌟 SUGGEST-A-TRON 48 points49 points  (4 children)

                                                                  Let's keep it going until the map is so large they have to add an extra zoom out that shows the whole planet as globe with the stars, the sun and the moon in the background.

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                                                                    [–]SumYumGhai 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                                                                    Inb4 Guild Wars Utopia

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                                                                      [–]TannenFalconwingWillbender is my new love 269 points270 points  (17 children)

                                                                      Season 1 Return, Expansion 4, more Strikes, more Canthan maps, back to quarterly profession balance, confirmation of release dates for Strike CMs and Zhaitan weapons... I mean, this is a lot of everything that I wanted. All that's missing is New Fractal and New Raid Wing and we have Jackpot.

                                                                      Seriously, I gave up hope that we'd see Season 1 back after the Scrying Pool instances came out. The fact that they went to the effort to remake Season 1 and rerelease it through the story journal is incredible. All of this is more than I could have hope for.

                                                                      [–]squidjeep 56 points57 points  (14 children)

                                                                      Yeah I like strikes, and strike CMs seem like a cool idea that will work, but more support for fractals and raids would be really appreciated.

                                                                      I like the diversity shaping up in the end-game content side of things, and I really hope Anet keeps and nurtures that diversity.

                                                                      I'm really open to new innovative ideas that could get new players into raids and fractals, and reducing some of the barriers of getting into them, like AR for instance. Maybe there can be single player gauntlet modes, or spectator modes. I don't know. But they definitely shouldn't abandon them that's for sure.

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                                                                        [–]MrForz 191 points192 points  (15 children)

                                                                        The Battle for Lion's Arch... I didn't think I'd possibly relive these weeks.

                                                                        [–]Michuza 33 points34 points  (2 children)

                                                                        They could make it something like dragonstorm or marionette.

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                                                                          [–]Cyandol 149 points150 points  (12 children)

                                                                          Anet: "You only get to launch on Steam once..."

                                                                          Skyrim: Are you sure about that.

                                                                          [–]tryhardarchitect 293 points294 points  (72 children)

                                                                          LWS1 Returning! I thought I would never see the day…

                                                                          [–]Kirsham 123 points124 points  (11 children)

                                                                          I had major GW2 burnout during LS1 because I wanted to experience it all and fear of missing out. Halfway through the season I just stopped cold turkey. I just couldn't keep up while having fun and balancing other things that were going on in life at the time. As a result I missed out on a key part of the story, which I've somewhat regretted in the years since, though it was definitively the right thing for me to put the game down for a while.

                                                                          I had all but given up that I'd ever get to experience that part of the story, and I've felt a bit of irrational resentment towards the game as a result. I'm so happy they finally decided to do this. I understand the main motivation is to retain new players coming with the Steam release, but still, as a veteran who missed out, thank you ANet.

                                                                          [–]moiax.6507 Galatis[GAL] - Ehmry Bay 31 points32 points  (7 children)

                                                                          I was kicking fires and looking for heirlooms, and just straight up quit until mid season 2, lol.

                                                                          Hopefully it's streamlined, because I never got to fight Scarlett because I was so burnt out.

                                                                          [–]SheenaMalfoy.8079 Oweiyn 19 points20 points  (4 children)

                                                                          I never fought Scarlet because I was simply a shit player then lol.

                                                                          I hope they implement newer balance changes to the returning patches, though (*cough cough* please let structures take condi damage *cough cough*) or else a lot of folks are gonna be jarred by the clunkiness like we currently are when jumping into Season 2. Or maybe they won't, and everyone's just gonna have to play power builds again.

                                                                          [–]Gulstab.1534 13 points14 points  (2 children)

                                                                          I feel like it might be a bit steamroll-y because elite spec power creep in a Core-based experience; remember, this will be available to all accounts going forward, but I also think there will be some twists and turns.

                                                                          The fact that The Battle for Lion's Arch will have a strike mission implies they might be re-imagining some fights to me!

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                                                                                [–]call_me_mr_pickles 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                                                                Me too!! I joined the game after that...I never had the opportunity

                                                                                [–]berserk987 4 points5 points  (7 children)

                                                                                I never experienced the living world season 1, as i returned to gw1 back then. I only came back to gw2 when living world season 2 was halfway done.
                                                                                ( I absolutely hated the introduction of the ascended tier armor )
                                                                                I'm really looking forward to finally play it!

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                                                                                  [–]erpg 30 points31 points  (0 children)

                                                                                  Getting LWS1 and DX11 out before the Steam release is such a good move. Damn, ArenaNet! You did it!

                                                                                  [–]Nek0maniacbreakin' dem spells all day long 25 points26 points  (0 children)

                                                                                  Fantastic news overall imo. Also, I am really happy to read that Grouch got the position he deserves. He's been amazing ever since he returned to Anet

                                                                                  [–]tt__Underboob \o/ 105 points106 points  (0 children)

                                                                                  • cleaning up some aspects of the early game experience
                                                                                  • getting DirectX11 ready to exit beta
                                                                                  • Living World Season 1 Returns

                                                                                  Wow!

                                                                                  [–]Nudasz 157 points158 points  (1 child)

                                                                                  2022 the actual year of Guild Wars 2

                                                                                  [–]ragnorke 117 points118 points  (11 children)

                                                                                  Holy shit,

                                                                                  Let me get this straight,

                                                                                  Living World Season 1 is confirmed, with a NEW STRIKE AND CM

                                                                                  EoD story continuation also confirmed, with new legendary variants

                                                                                  New expansion also confirmed on top of that.

                                                                                  Plus more frequent balance patches and continued WvW improvements?

                                                                                  ​

                                                                                  Is this a dream? Someone pinch me. This may be the single best studio update i'v ever seen from Anet.

                                                                                  [–]turin331 54 points55 points  (8 children)

                                                                                  Getting new strikes with this kind of cadence. And reusing old encounters for it. This is exactly the best solution for everyone.

                                                                                  [–]TannenFalconwingWillbender is my new love 22 points23 points  (2 children)

                                                                                  Yeah I've found that I love the new strikes. I was originally aprehensive about Minister Li being a strike boss because he's just some dude, but that strike is actually really good so who cares.

                                                                                  [–]that_mag_main 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                                                                                  I just played that strike for the first time last night, it was fantastic. All the encounters in EoD have been incredibly fun, and I hope they go back and give the strike treatment to previous story bosses eventually.

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                                                                                        [–]EbenHSHD 17 points18 points  (2 children)

                                                                                        LWS1 and a fourth expansion.

                                                                                        Holy fuck

                                                                                        [–]Deviathan 16 points17 points  (0 children)

                                                                                        Return to Season 1? Battle for LA strike? Expansion 4 AND more Cantha between?

                                                                                        Holy crap they're crushing it right now. Awesome.

                                                                                        [–]liilii 54 points55 points  (0 children)

                                                                                        I'm SO excited to finally experience the season 1 story, recaps just aren't the same thing!!

                                                                                        [–]Abyssalstar 16 points17 points  (1 child)

                                                                                        Check your weapons, gang! Time to save old Lion's Arch again!

                                                                                        [–]Snebzorsnebzor.4851 | twitch.tv/snebzor 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                                                                                        Glad they're polishing things up in preparation for Steam release! That's so exciting and will be HUGE for the community.

                                                                                        [–]monk40k 74 points75 points  (5 children)

                                                                                        Naming an expansion "End of Dragons" was a risky move, especially with the vocal "dEaD gAeM" crowd, so I was really happy to read this post.

                                                                                        Two great tidbits I noticed are the "you can launch on Steam only once" part - as some developers seem oblivious to that - and the promise of cleaning up the early game experience.

                                                                                        I hope the latter means more than just adding some unskippable breakbar tutorials and fixing a few random bugs. The fact they dug into the ancient LS1 code means they may actually be willing to do something with dungeons, too!

                                                                                        Long live GW2!

                                                                                        [–]AshendalBurn Everything 15 points16 points  (2 children)

                                                                                        I'd be happy with them turning dungeons into fractals and just consolidating the whole thing. Same for strikes moving under the raid umbrella. Make the language consistent so you can easily tell new players things in a language they readily understand instead of things like "well they're dungeons, but not the things called dungeons in the game."

                                                                                        [–]fforde 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                                                                        The original dungeons directly tied in to the core campaign story, as you were playing through it. With Fractals they are trying to do something very different. I'm not sure mashing them together would be a very good fit, they are kind of different things.

                                                                                        I agree that there's confusion in terms of language, but Fractals and Dungeons are different animals.

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                                                                                            [–]barduck 45 points46 points  (3 children)

                                                                                            I wonder whether with the current and future influx of new players ANet has any plans to finally sunset the "Right click -> Join in map --> Map is full -> Close dialog" mini-game and generally improve the LFG tool up to 2022 standards.

                                                                                            Still, good news.

                                                                                            [–]Sixchr 91 points92 points  (25 children)

                                                                                            Holy shit, they're actually doing Living World Season 1.

                                                                                            [–]TisMarple 97 points98 points  (24 children)

                                                                                            Not only that, but also:

                                                                                            Living World Season 1 will be a free addition to the base game for all players (including free accounts), forever.

                                                                                            This is so good!

                                                                                            [–]Mr_Lafar 6 points7 points  (1 child)

                                                                                            Gives them a strike to show off the new end game mode at the end of the first season too. Good little taste to get people to buy EoD if there's 4 solid (+ however many are in living world season 6) more strikes.

                                                                                            [–]kozeljko 21 points22 points  (21 children)

                                                                                            Now add LS2 for free as well, ANet!

                                                                                            [–]Coooturtle 14 points15 points  (14 children)

                                                                                            To be fair, skipping from S1 to Hot wont be that jarring. You will miss a couple plot points, but you should get the general story pretty well.

                                                                                            [–]TisMarple 12 points13 points  (3 children)

                                                                                            Yeah at least with season 1 you will get to know who all those new characters are. If you go from base story straight to season 2, it happens like this:

                                                                                            Taimi, Braham, etc: "Hey! Long time no see, you are my best friend and I missed you, how have you been?".
                                                                                            You: "Who the fuck are you??"

                                                                                            Plus season 2 is the most expansive bundle, with no new maps, no good rewards, and it's suuuuper slow (to say the least).

                                                                                            [–]Coooturtle 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                                                                                            Yeah, S2 is by far the worst living world season. I don't think they should be charging for it. There isn't any value in it other than getting the story, and I think it is better for player retention to just give it to players. S3 give you 6 pretty decent maps, the story is MUCH better than S2, and you get access to much easier ascended trinkets. S4 and S5 simply have good stories, with relevant maps and rewards. It makes sense to charge for those still.

                                                                                            But maybe they are planning on giving away s2 after they give out Season 1.

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                                                                                              [–]ZethSayberReveria Rivers 21 points22 points  (6 children)

                                                                                              Honestly the gem gating feels so archaic and pointless at this point. I'm sure they make so much more from the rest of the gem store cosmetics it just seems so tacked on. Just give the appropriate living world with the expansion already.

                                                                                              [–]TisMarple 27 points28 points  (3 children)

                                                                                              People buying the complete expansion bundle are expecting to get the full game, only to learn later that they still need to pay 4000+ gems to unlock the rest. The store page is straight-up misleading, there's no other way to say it. This must be so frustrating and confusing for new players. Steam reviews will tank a lot if Anet does not address this beforehand. This is a big no-no. The least they can do is making things clear and then even clearer before people buy the game.

                                                                                              And that's without saying that 1600 gems for Season 2 is definitely not worth it.

                                                                                              [–]ZethSayberReveria Rivers 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                                                              Exactly. I just needs to go, hard stop.

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                                                                                                      [–]f1ve 65 points66 points  (6 children)

                                                                                                      As a new Guild Wars 2, ex-wow, player i must say: this sounds amazing on so many levels:

                                                                                                      • listening and evaluating feedback from players
                                                                                                      • hiring players and content creators as key figures in game dev
                                                                                                      • work/life balance as a focus
                                                                                                      • new content, but also now tackling old content and making it better
                                                                                                      • a roadmap
                                                                                                      • A plan for regular profession updates and balance
                                                                                                      • new expansion already confirmed

                                                                                                      Now I’m waiting if they can deliver on these. But it already sounds a lot better than what I’m used to from Blizzard.

                                                                                                      [–]MargoniteofKormir 12 points13 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                      As someone who used to always play both, welcome friend :)

                                                                                                      [–]Agleza 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                      Same situation here, I feel ya.

                                                                                                      listening and evaluating feedback from players

                                                                                                      new content, but also now tackling old content and making it better

                                                                                                      a roadmap

                                                                                                      Coming from dealing with Blizz, these three things alone already feel like I'm being spoiled.

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                                                                                                        [–]Rekoza 42 points43 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                        LWS1 and a new Exp confirmed? This is great news.

                                                                                                        [–]Natural-Setting1512 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        And new canthan maps!!!

                                                                                                        [–]cfedeyAldrekk | Guard Enthusiast 12 points13 points  (3 children)

                                                                                                        Literally sat up in my chair and leaned forward when I read "Living World Season 1 Returns". Big news. Hopefully they move the Visions of the Past missions into the same category as the new LWS1 episodes so the content isn't in a bunch of different places.

                                                                                                        [–]fleakill 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        This is the best thing I've read all week. Fourth expansion. LS1 returning. Regular balance updates. Legendary variants (I'm sure Zhaitan would look better on a necro than aurene).

                                                                                                        [–]LucidSeraphCharr Astronaut 10 points11 points  (4 children)

                                                                                                        I wonder if the return to LWS1 will also mean an eventual return to / pass on the original dungeons? The Story Mode dungeons tell a rather important part of the story of Destiny's Edge, and skipping them means getting to Zhaitan and going "Who the heck are these people and why do I give a damn?"

                                                                                                        I don't think dungeons have to be a cornerstone game mode -- strikes seem to be taking over that role -- but I'd at least like to see them get fixed so they're less onerous to run. Perhaps converted to strikes...?

                                                                                                        [–]ninefourteen 11 points12 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                        Didn't there used to be a bot that would link to Developer Responses in comments like this?

                                                                                                        I'm trying to find the Dev response and am not seeing it :(

                                                                                                        [–]XephyrGW2IGN: Xephyr 37 points38 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                        This makes me so so happy. GW2 is approaching 10 years and there's always that fear in the back of my mind that they'll stop updating the game at some point soon, and I'm SO glad that's not the case. I will continue playing GW2 for as long as they keep pumping out content. I will buy every expansion they decide to release, and I will continue supporting the game through gem purchases. Thank you ArenaNet for the past 10 years, and here's to 10 more.

                                                                                                        [–]B4sicks 20 points21 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                        RIP that one dude who is always in Mistlock telling people GW3 is gonna delete everything later in the year.

                                                                                                        [–]RedLikeARosecan't stop, won't stop, not untill I say so 33 points34 points  (6 children)

                                                                                                        Season 1 is cool for steam users, but did yall read over the part where they shortly mention the new player experience

                                                                                                        Now that is gonna be great

                                                                                                        [–]Kipados 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        I’m screaming on the inside. I have no words. My hype is through the roof. We are in a new fucking era of this game.

                                                                                                        [–]coffee_for_dinner 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        Wig: SNATCHED

                                                                                                        This is a real freaking powerful update, Anet.

                                                                                                        [–]NewtRider 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        God damn that's one hell of a post. Excited about the future shouldn't be undersold here.

                                                                                                        [–]robot_wth_human_hair 30 points31 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        This is HUGE.

                                                                                                        [–]TisMarple 40 points41 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        EoD is the only time I ever pre-purchased something from anyone, and I'm glad I did. Best 30€ ever spent for entertainment stuff, those last 3 weeks have been a blast.

                                                                                                        [–]MechaSandstar 65 points66 points  (32 children)

                                                                                                        Living world season 1 coming back. Doesn't seem like it's going to be map events, but story stuff. Which is kind of what I thought they'd do. There's no way they can have 3 different instances of LA (regular, escape, breachmaker), they can't have the queen's quantlet open all the time, they can't have seperate maps for all of scarlet's invasion. it just wouldn't work!

                                                                                                        [–]Chabb 52 points53 points  (14 children)

                                                                                                        They talked about strike missions so maybe we'll get a Dragonstorm treatment of the three instances of LA?

                                                                                                        [–]MechaSandstar 26 points27 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                        I think we'll probably just get the breachmaker fight, as a strike. I can see that working, 3 people on each of the 3 marionettes, with 1 coordinating. That'd be cool.

                                                                                                        [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 12 points13 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                        I'd love to see a Dragonstorm-style LA event. You could have a whole phase for evacuating civilians and then another phase where you re-take the city. It would be a lot of work, but this is an important part of the story so I would prioritize showcasing that. We'll see what they do.

                                                                                                        [–]MechaSandstar 3 points4 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                        Yet, people complain about how long DE, cold war, and forging steel takes....

                                                                                                        [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        If you dig into it, they don't complain about the time for those things, but rather the time to reward ratio. No one does Forging Steel because it takes like 2-3 times as long as other strikes and gives similar rewards and there's little if any reason to keep running it. If you added a chance at the Khan Ur cosmetic, you would almost certainly see it run more. Alternatively if you added skips to the boss or ways for players to run far ahead and clear out everything so it went faster, you would likely see more runs.

                                                                                                        [–]turin331 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                        I assume you are correct for what was an open world event. And the last instance where you kill scarlet will be a strike mission.

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                                                                                                          [–]MithranArkanere🌟 SUGGEST-A-TRON 23 points24 points  (9 children)

                                                                                                          The marionette has proven they can return sections of open world stuff in instances.

                                                                                                          And Steel & Fire has shown that they can make instanced maps that feel like open world with nodes and free exploration after the boss is done.

                                                                                                          The only reason the marionette is hardly ever done is that it doesn't feel rewarding for the difficulty of avoiding a few players making the rest fail, and it doesn't have that many tradeable unique rewards other than Zealot recipes.
                                                                                                          The marionette chest gives just cultural norn skins, and the Scarlet's Rainbow it drops the account-bound consumable instead the traedable exotic. Even bosses that have mostly just an infusion like the casino have a better time at staying populated.

                                                                                                          I think that if they gave the marionette a liquid reward of just 1g, 'clockwork' infusion that makes you leave trails of sprockets as one of the rewards, and made a reskin of the Steam weapon set to make them look more clockwork and steam creatures as a reward through S1, including the marionete, the marionette would be much more populated.

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                                                                                                            [–]Psykewne 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                            Simply amazing. I love this game!!!

                                                                                                            [–]LevelStudent 121 points122 points  (32 children)

                                                                                                            Something really amazing that GW2 does well that I've never seen any other MMO do ever is that the content that came out 10 years ago is still relevant and played to this day, and still rewards you with things you want/need. I think that's going to make the Steam release very strong.

                                                                                                            [–]Whilyam"I can play an androgynous tree nerd!" 22 points23 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                            Yeah, they generally do a good job of making content potentially rewarding for a lot of different players/demands. Want unidentified gear? Silverwastes. Want lots of materials of varying rarities? LS4 train/Drizzlewood. They've largely done a good job of not having overlap among farms. This is why I'm disappointed with the EoD metas is that they're very much like PoF in that ANet's solved the issue of having players play the content by... not incentivizing them to play the content. A new farm can't eclipse an old farm if the new farm doesn't reward you with anything thinkaboutit.jpg

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                                                                                                              [–]Aether_Storm 22 points23 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                              Now that we're done with the dragons, I wonder if some guilds will get into a fight.

                                                                                                              [–]Conocoryphe 9 points10 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                              That's the fourth expansion: Guild Wars 2: War of Guilds

                                                                                                              [–]TonsofchexmixMamabear 24 points25 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                              I got goosebumps reading about them doubling down on this game. Season 1 PERMANENT AND FREE, dedication to the steam release, DX11, all game modes and balance love, the COMMUNICATION. EXPANSION 4!?

                                                                                                              Reading this fills me with immense joy.

                                                                                                              [–]TisMarple 11 points12 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                              There were so many announcements in this post that you even missed one: Living World Season 6 (or something like that).

                                                                                                              Finally, we’re happy to confirm that we’re working on the next story update for Guild Wars 2, including a new map set in the Cantha region.

                                                                                                              [–]TonsofchexmixMamabear 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              So many things to be thrilled about. My little heart was not prepared.

                                                                                                              [–]Razael89 23 points24 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              Anet on a win streak . Nice to see.

                                                                                                              [–]Monsieur_Caillou 22 points23 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              “Right now, the team is tracking down an incredibly elusive, long-standing bug that causes queues to reset and throw players back to the end of the line—something that happens more often during the highly active beta events.”

                                                                                                              I’M NOT CRAZY

                                                                                                              I’M NOT CRAZY

                                                                                                              Take heed! I haven’t taken leave of my senses!

                                                                                                              [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              This was a pleasant surprise.

                                                                                                              Confirmation of next expansion is actually really good.

                                                                                                              I hope this communication continues and we get some info on class changes prior to the update.

                                                                                                              [–]Michuza 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              By Ogden's hammer, what a news!

                                                                                                              [–]DocnexM 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                              This is great Anet. I love everything that has been announced in this post. Thank you for being this transparent!

                                                                                                              [–]Hrothen 17 points18 points  (4 children)

                                                                                                              Was not expecting them to bring back LWS1, I wonder if this means it'll be possible to earn the old rewards without having to pay a bunch at the laurel merchant?

                                                                                                              [–]Redditiscancer789 6 points7 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                              "Give players the opportunity to earn many of the legacy achievements and rewards that have been unavailable all these years. The first episode, “Flame and Frost,” will release on April 19."

                                                                                                              Literally in the article.

                                                                                                              [–]QuietRock 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                              So the "Hero of Lion's Arch" title won't feel exclusive anymore. I kind of liked to wear that as a way to say I was there for the original event. But I'm ok if they want to open it up for the sake of completionists.

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                                                                                                                [–]rym1469www.twitch.tv/rymm_ 16 points17 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                /u/Joshua_Davis yo, grats on becoming the Game Director, bigman

                                                                                                                [–]squidjeep 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                Interesting, they're really working to set things up for the new players they'll get from Steam - which is good that they want to do it well, like they said, they only get one real shot and hopefully it pays off.

                                                                                                                That'll probably unfortunately delay LWS6 a bit but everything is looking good for them for the future...

                                                                                                                In the meantime, hopefully the Strike CMs are good and satisfying, both effort and reward-wise.

                                                                                                                [–]skirtsanPraise Joko 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                Great time to tell all your friends and enemies how great guild wars 2 is and how bright the future will be :D

                                                                                                                [–]Left4Bread2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                The title of this scared me, the content of it pogged me up

                                                                                                                [–]Ampris_bobbo8u 23 points24 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                                somehwere, woodenpotatoes just came and doesnt know why yet

                                                                                                                [–]Abyssalstar 15 points16 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                He's literally on YT talking about it now.

                                                                                                                [–]throathalflap 3 points4 points  (2 children)

                                                                                                                Okay, 4th expac: Hammer Necro please! (With an upkeep summon? Draining lifeforce)

                                                                                                                [–]normanleepraise joko 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                                In addition to the number tweaks that you’re used to seeing, the team will be revisiting some underpowered and underused weapon skills, traits, or utilities for each profession in each profession update to help expand your arsenal.

                                                                                                                Guardian hammer 🙏

                                                                                                                [–]SlateKoS 10 points11 points  (1 child)

                                                                                                                Finally some words on Steam Release

                                                                                                                [–]EbenHSHD 46 points47 points  (8 children)

                                                                                                                u/WoodenPotatoes is going to blow a gasket over this lol

                                                                                                                [–]Airwolf_von_DOOMChrono/Virtuoso Fanatic [] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                lws 1 has always been such a big miss to the story where many of the dragons watch group originate from. Good to finally have it come out in a story format.

                                                                                                                [–]thraage 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                This is all great news. I'm excited to play through ls1. I started playing gw2 just before ls2, and I've always felt like there was a gap in my knowledge of the story. WP videos are ok, but playing it yourself makes it all more cohesive imo. Even during EoD I found myself lacking knowledge to understand ls1 references.

                                                                                                                [–]Boumeisha 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                                                                                                There's a lot to be excited for.

                                                                                                                First, we need to prioritize delivering consistent updates for our players. . . . This means continuing to tell compelling stories that expand the world of Tyria while providing a better experience for those who enjoy game modes such as World vs. World, Player vs. Player, and endgame group content.

                                                                                                                It's nice to see some acknowledgement that these are areas they've struggled with for the past decade. The inconsistency in release output and the neglect some core aspects of the game has received has made it difficult to really stay invested in the game as a player.

                                                                                                                The return of LWS1 in some fashion is very exciting news. It's been a big pain point for both new and veteran players that a good chunk of the story is simply absent, so it's nice to see that finally being rectified in a meaningful way.

                                                                                                                There have been times when ANet's seemed to have gotten a strong sense of direction for the game, only to lose it, so hopefully they can manage to make everything stick this time. GW2 could easily go another 10 years at least if ANet remains committed to it.

                                                                                                                [–]Kwith 3 points4 points  (4 children)

                                                                                                                So with season 1 coming back, does that mean we'll be seeing the old LA maps again?

                                                                                                                That's going to cause a lot of confusion for newer players. I'm still looking forward to it though.

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