It’s crazy to think that Guild Wars 2 is already over ten years old. It’s a game that’s been there through countless milestones in my life and that I always find myself returning to. Guild Wars 2 is such a significant part of my life that it played a major role in my partner and I’s relationship. So when I binge-played my way through its third expansion last year that brought the long-running story to a close, it was more than a bittersweet moment for me.
This is a story with characters that grew up alongside me and even saw me through an entire pandemic. However, judging from the latest roadmap for the game, I still have plenty to get excited about. While the roadmap detailed many things like some finetuning to balancing and a DX11 update, the most exciting part was an elaboration on where the game is heading regarding new content and expansions.
According to the game’s developers, ArenaNet, the future of expansion content for GuildWars 2 will look much different than what fans have been used to up until now. Over the last ten years, Guild Wars 2 has set a standard of releasing a big expansion to the game every two to four years, with the gaps being filled by the game’s ongoing Living World seasons. But according to the developers, this caused many game areas to almost become redundant and unsupported during the next season’s rollout.
To address this issue, Guild Wars 2 will see smaller and more affordable expansions arriving at a more regular rate in the future, with quarterly updates to fill the gaps. This means that the next “big update” will only ever be a few months away, giving old-time players like myself a reason to return constantly.
ArenaNet also said that the plan is for each expansion to kick off with a brand new story arc, two new open-world maps, two new Stike Missions, and new Masteries and rewards, so no matter what it is that you enjoy spending your time doing in-game – there will be something new for you to enjoy.
As for the quarterly updates, these will add new maps, story chapters, challenge modes, fractals and rewards. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a game to go and update.