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Players pretty much guessed it but Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns being an expansion is confirmed! At the “Beyond The Point of No Return” panel at PAX South, ArenaNet president Mike O’Brien told players the good news and Guild Wars 2 Game Director Colin Johanson went over the major features coming in the expansion. Players will be heading into The Heart of Maguuma where players can fight Mordrem minions and discover allies from ancient civilizations. From the announcement trailer, it looks like the Mursaat (or whatever those spectral beings are) are probably a new ally. There will be challenging group content, open world jungle maps, new events, a new story line, and new boss battles.
Max level and gear stats are not changing but progression shall be done using the Mastery System. The Mastery System is available at max level and is account based so you only need to apply points once if you have many characters. This system is used in order to adapt and survive in the Maguuma Jungle. Points for this system are earned by doing Heart of Maguuma jungle content. There are abilities such as hang gliding and combat abilities such as tearing bark off a heavily armored Mordrem. Also, precursors can be earned from the Mastery System via building and completing new collections. Speaking of precursors, Johanson confirmed new legendaries and new legendary precursors in Heart of Thorns.
Specializations are another form of progression being introduced in the expansion. Players will be able to gain access to a new weapon that was unavailable to their character. There will also be new traits, skills and unique mechanics. Some specializations described in the panel for Rangers is the ability to use a staff and Druid Form which provides new skills and mechanics; Necromancers will be able to use greatswords. From the trailer, it seems that Engineers will be able to wield hammers.
The expansion introduces a new heavy armor class: Revenant. Destiny’s Edge member Rytlock Brimstone was confirmed to be a Revenant when he returns from the Mists by Johanson at the panel. Revenants are able to channel the powers of the Mists as well as powers from past Guild Wars great legends such as Jalis Ironhammer (from Guild Wars Prophecies and Eye of the North) and Mallyx the Unyielding (from Guild Wars: Nightfall).
The PvP side is receiving new things as well! For WvW, there will be a new borderland in the borderland rotation where keeps have distinct themes. Certain abilities can be obtained when in control of objectives around a keep. For example, Johanson said the Earth Keep will raise up parts of the ground to defend itself when attacked if players control the shrines around the keep. Core changes to WvW will also be made in order to promote holding objectives. For sPvP, there will be a new mode called Stronghold which is a throwback to Guild Wars 1. Players will be able to hire troops with supply in order to assault the enemy team’s keep in order to defeat the enemy guild lord for the win. Guild teams will be available for this mode in order to see who makes it to the top of the leaderboards.
Finally, there will be Guild Halls. Guild Halls can be upgraded and can be a centralized place where guilds can organize and head out for guild missions and Heart of Maguuma jungle content.
In a post interview by Twitch, Mike O’Brien said that the first (public) playable version of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns will be available at PAX East. If you missed the panel and want to see it for yourself, you can check it out on Guild Wars 2’s Twitch channel!
The assault on the Iron Horde begins on February 3rd. The Blackrock Foundry and the third Warlords of Draenor world boss, Rukhmar, drops in the next few weeks. And if you’re sitting on the edge of your seat like the rest of the World of Warcraft Raiders, then you will want to ask for the following days off.
Those who plan to jump into the action in the Raid Finder will need a minimum item level of 635.
February 3, 2015:
–Blackrock Foundry opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties available.
–World boss Rukhmar becomes available in Spires of Arak.
February 10, 2015:
–Mythic difficulty becomes available.
February 17, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 1: Slagworks (Gruul, Oregorger, and The Blast Furnace) unlocks.
February 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 2: The Black Forge (Hans’gar and Franzok, Flamebender Ka’graz, and Kromog ) unlocks.
March 10, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 3: Iron Assembly (Beastlord Darmac, Operator Thogar, and The Iron Maidens) unlocks.
March 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 4: Blackhand’s Crucible (Blackhand) unlocks.
Next Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 will receive the eighth—and last—episode of the Living World: Season 2. Point of No Return launches on 13 January, and in preparation ArenaNet have released this here trailer.
As is the way of things, the first minute or so is footage of previously released episodes. The actual contents of episode eight are, as yet, unknown. The big, roaring plant dragon at the end is probably a good hint, however.
Here’s the way of things as they stand: Caithe has Glint’s dragon egg, the Pact are preparing an assault on Mordremoth, and the player has discovered a big ol’ ominous tomb. To summarise, things are pretty lore up ins.
At a guess, the dragon seen at the end of the video looks a lot like Shadow of the Dragon, who was last seen bothering the Pale Tree at the end of episode four. There’s every chance he’s a boss at the end of the story—it seems a bit soon to face Mordremoth himself. We do somewhat hope that he’s planned as another World Boss. We’ve not had a new one of them since Season One’s Triple Wurm and Twisted Marionette fights and things are getting a little boring.
ArenaNet will be revealing what comes after Season 2 later this month at PAX South. A presentation, titled Beyond The Point of No Return, is scheduled to take place on 24 January.
Dataminers may have found evidence in the information for World of Warcraft’s upcoming Patch 6.1 that indicates the developers are planning for a new free-to-play option.
The recently discovered data files with references to a “Veteran Edition” are noted to resemble those for the already existing Trial Edition that allows everyone to play from level 1 to 20 for free. Like the Trial Edition, the Veteran appears to have limits as information in the files show a level cap, money cap and chat restrictions.
What all of this actually means is unknown at present, but Superior Realities suggests that it may be a system to allow subscribed players with lapsed accounts to continue playing with restrictions.
What do you think? Can you see WoW going free to play? If it does, what do you think non-subscribers would lose access to?
Australian retailer EB Games will remove The Elder Scrolls Online from its bricks and mortar shelves on January 13, a Kotaku AU source claims. If the report is true then it serves as fresh evidence that Bethesda intends to scrap the MMO’s monthly subscription fees in favour of a free-to-play model.
Both boxed copies of the game, as well as pre-paid subscription cards, will reportedly be discontinued.
The development follows news late last year that players can no longer purchase six-month subscriptions to the MMO, which was met with mixed reviews when it launched last year. While a moderator on an official French TESO forum claimed the six-month blocks were discontinued due to lack of demand (ie, customers prefer to buy shorter blocks), evidence is certainly mounting that a change is imminent.
We will keep you upto date on this story, as we’ve not reviewed the game since release, however if Free to Play does happen, we’ll have another look at the game which we were underwhelmed by during the betas
