The MMORPG Guild Wars 2 has announced its plans for the coming years. Instead of large expansions every 2 to 4 years, they now want to implement a concept similar to that of ESO. There will be an update every quarter, supplemented with regular small add-ons.
What is Guild Wars 2 planning for the future? The developers have stated that their current concept for the MMORPG is not working. A large part of the team is involved in completing a new expansion, which means that the rest of the content development is falling behind and gaps are forming.
Therefore, there will be major adjustments starting in 2023:
- Guild Wars 2 will receive a major update once per quarter.
- These quarterly updates will be complemented by regular but slightly smaller expansions.
- An expansion is intended to tell a cohesive story, which will continue through the quarterly updates. At the end of the story, the next expansion will be directly on the horizon – which is expected to cost less than the previous add-ons (29.99 euros).
An expansion will always start with two new maps in the open world, two strike missions, new masteries, and new player experiences. The following quarterly updates will then add more maps, additional story content, challenge modes for the strike missions, and new fractals.
The first of these quarterly updates will be experienced on February 28th. The story of the latest expansion, End of Dragons, will continue, which was a huge success for Guild Wars 2. The highlight is the new area, which will be gradually expanded and enriched with meta-events and boss fights.
What else is happening in 2023? In addition to the major quarterly update, the developers are planning further patches for Guild Wars 2:
- On February 14th, an update will be released that includes adjustments to class balance and rewards in WvW.
- On March 28th, the regular event Super Adventure Box will return.
- On April 18th, the upgrade to DX11 will be completed.
- On May 2nd, the next balance update will occur.
For the first half of 2023, a new legendary weapon set in the style of the Soo-Won weapons and a new fractal with a challenge mode are also planned.
Guild Wars 2 is now relying on a system reminiscent of ESO
What does this rhythm remind us of? The structure sounds similar to the current model of The Elder Scrolls Online, but is not as tightly constrained. Currently, ESO releases an expansion every summer and always has two dungeon DLCs.
This concept initially worked well for ESO, but there was growing criticism that the rigid rhythm was too predictable and the new expansions were generally too small. Thus, it was decided in 2023 to break this cycle and make adjustments, including a complete overhaul of the 4th DLC.
However, there are two major differences between ESO and Guild Wars 2:
- The developers of GW2 are open about how many quarterly updates lie between two expansions.
- These updates in between are free in GW2, whereas in ESO you either pay real money or need the ESO+ subscription. Furthermore, the GW2 expansions are expected to be cheaper. Players anticipate 15 to 25 euros instead of the 39.99 euros for ESO.
Whether the concept of Guild Wars 2 will succeed or lead to similar problems as in ESO will be seen in the coming months and years. What do you think about it? Feel free to write it in the comments.
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