As announced at the Rezzed fair, the fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2 is replacing the WvW map, dthe Borderlands.
This is a development that has truly surprised many fans… well, surprised is too little, horrified is too much: As revealed at the London fair Rezzed, Guild Wars 2 is replacing the current Borderlands map “Alpine Borderlands” with the expansion “Heart of Thorns” against the “Desert Borderlands”. This is a massive change. The old Borderlands are set to completely disappear for now. Perhaps they will be brought back to the game for a special occasion later or introduced in a rotation.
The World-versus-World in Guild Wars 2 works in such a way that there are three identical “Borderlands” maps (in blue, red, and green versions), each of which is assigned to a world, a server. In addition, there is another central map. The team that controls the most objectives on these four maps also collects the most points.
It’s a kind of 4-level chess. Only there are significantly more pieces and special rules. It’s a complex matter. The WvW of GW2 is famous for its commanders, its strategies, the chaos, and the massive zerg. A completely new map with numerous fresh ideas or even just modifications of the existing one requires a rethink.
The current map aims to bring variety and also solve some existing problems. As noted by the US site Tenonhammer, these include that forts change ownership too easily and defenders are at a disadvantage. They are joyfully blasted off the ramparts.
The changes are impressive: The various forts will have an “elemental theme”: Air, Fire, and Earth.
With the Desert Borderlands, shrines are expected to be introduced that can be captured by solo players and whose ownership truly impacts the course of the battle. At the Fire Keep, for example, one should be able to summon fire protection towers with the first shrine, when controlling two shrines, hellhounds can be summoned, and if the team that controls the fort occupies three fire shrines, it can walk on lava.
In an initial trailer, you can catch a glimpse of the new Borderlands of GW2.
The expansion Heart of Thorns does not yet have a release date. With it, the changes presented here are expected to take effect. For more information about HoT, check out our GW2 topic page.
