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ArenaNet will release the fifth major expansion for their popular MMORPG Guild Wars 2 on August 20, 2024. The expansion called Janthir Wilds brings a slate of new content, from new maps, world bosses, various new skills and abilities as well as a cosy place for every player called Homestead among other things.
I've been lucky to attend a hands-on preview event for Janthir Wilds two weeks ago and while I'm probably not your standard Guild Wars 2 player (haven't played in a long, long time) I saw some impressive stuff that should make every Guild Wars 2 players one happy bunny.
In a nutshell, everything in Janthir Wilds, from the story to actual features, feels like it's been crafted with so much love and the way the devs talked about it, made me feel like they're really proud of what they've accomplished here.
So, without further ado, here's some of the most important info I've learned during the Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds preview event.
There is plenty to look forward to in the expansion but the thing that caught my eye the most is certainly your own piece of heaven in homestead, where players can decorate their cabin and yard, cultivate various herbs and simply take some time away from all the battling out in the world.
ArenaNet said that everything from players' home instance will be accessible within the homestead. This includes nodes you've purchased through Black Line Trading Company and everything you got through the shop with Gems.
When it comes to unlocking various decorations for your homestead, the devs confirmed everything will be unlocked through mastery points, which will be spent via the new Handiwork workbench. The goal is to encourage players to explore Janthir Wilds and play the expansion instead of sitting at the workbench and crafting hundreds of low-level chairs for example.
We also got a confirmation that the mastery system is account-bound so you won't have to re-train crafting discipline for every character.
In Janthir Wilds, players will get their own Warclaw through a simple story quest very early on. Those who already have this cute cat-like mount will get a special Janthir Wilds Warclaw skin. The team spoke about how the goal was to frontload the Warclaw and make the mount feel like a part of the story and very important to gameplay, hence the early quest that gives you access to this mount.
Some of the Warclaw gameplay features that I got to test included multiple air jumps, opening doors with chain pull, sniffing for treasure and more. The Warclaw definitely felt like a crucial part of this new expansion, at least in terms of gameplay.
ArenaNet team also led several parties to a new world boss fight including the one against a titan named Greer, which is located in one of the swampy areas in the new expansion. The whole area has a rotten look to it, perfect for someone like Malenia from Elden Ring to make it her own place.
As we started the fight against this massive monster, one of the World Designers from ArenaNet talked us through the story of this boss. The island is home to a strange environmental phenomenon called the Misttides during which these big titas will emerge from their lairs to drain power from bloodstone shards.
Guild Wars 2 - Janthir Wilds screenshots
Once the boss transitioned to phase two, it started raining down rot and decay and also spawned a number of his minions to make our job harder, and it did, as I got downed several times during this fight.
This was one of the boss fights in which we got to see how Warclaws can help bring the enemy down with the chain pull. Basically, a group of players got onto their mounts, chained the boss and brought it down in spectacular fashion. Very cinematic!
As I've mentioned above, everything I've seen in this hour with the new expansion looked really impressive and more importantly - fun. The dev team at ArenaNet really knocked it out of the park, at least based on what I got to experience.
Whether the rest of this expansion will maintain the quality of the part I've played, it remains to be seen, but I certainly feel like this was just the start of a very special new story for Guild Wars 2.
