Recently, content from a possible expansion for Guild Wars 2 has been leaked. Now, the developers at ArenaNet have already confirmed the addon! The new expansion for Guild Wars 2 could be released as early as 2017!
The excitement among Guild Wars 2 players has recently been high. A – now deleted – gallery of images appeared on Reddit showing various content from a possible expansion. This included mounts, new skill lines, and areas from the original Guild Wars.
Now, the developers have actually confirmed a new expansion in an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit, which is set to appear much sooner than expected.
Guild Wars 2 – 2nd Expansion – Release on Regular Schedule
According to ArenaNet chief Mike O’Brien, the expansion is set to be released later this year. The “update cadence” is expected to be maintained, with 2-3 months between new game content. Since an expansion would be the “next game content”, it could still happen in 2017.
Heart of Thorns, the first major expansion, was released months after the end of Season 2. This unnecessarily kept all players in suspense, as the season finale had already generated considerable anticipation.
With the still-unnamed 2nd addon, ArenaNet aims to take a different approach. They have their own design team solely working on the expansion, while another team is responsible for continuing the living story. This allows for parallel development and better timelines. Therefore, Episode 6 should be released two to three months after Episode 5, followed by the expansion.
Guild Wars 2 – 2nd Expansion – Release This Fall?
According to this schedule, the finale of Season 3 should appear in the summer and the addon then in the fall. Mike O’Brien suggests that the release date of the expansion might shift slightly, as releasing and sending a full expansion usually requires more work than releasing a new episode.
Nevertheless, the new addon should be available by winter at the latest, and then the next season of the living story should quickly follow. ArenaNet likely wants to avoid long breaks between story expansions in the future.
Release Date for 2nd Expansion of Guild Wars 2?
This suggests that the release window for the new expansion to “Guild Wars 2” is likely somewhere between November 2017 and February 2018.
What do you think of this announcement from ArenaNet? Do you believe in a release of the 2nd expansion by the end of 2017? And do you fear that the quality might suffer due to the rapid releases? Let us know in the comments!
Also interesting: Guild Wars 2 – Crisis Point – we played the shocking 5th episode!
