NCSoft and ArenaNet just announced a new expansion for Guild Wars 2. Due to arrive on August 20th, Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds will bring with it a fresh year of new story content and additional content updates.
Players of the MMO will travel to the Isles of Janthir, a location "carefully guarded by the wizards of the Astral Ward." Players will "explore, fight, and learn more about the mysteries of Tyria's past." Some early details on this expansion were shared today alongside the announcement trailer. There will be several additional news updates on the expansion in the months to come.
Naturally, pre-orders for the expansion are also now available. Those pre-ordering any of the available options will get the "Homesteader" title, the Whispering Serpents Pauldrons skin, and a box with your choice of Serpent's Wrath weapon skin. Pre-purchase options are available now through the official store, from the in-game store, and should be up on Steam (but it is not there yet at the time of publication).
A New Adventure Beckons
At the launch of Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, you’ll explore two new maps as you seek an alliance with the lowland kodan who call the Isle of Janthir home, master new ways to fight and explore, and unlock a homestead (an account-wide personal housing instance) of your own. Over the course of three quarterly releases that follow the initial launch, you’ll have the opportunity to challenge new content, explore additional story in a third new map, craft a legendary spear and backpack, and obtain new Wizard’s Vault rewards, cosmetic items, relic effects, and more.
At the launch of Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, you’ll explore two new maps as you seek an alliance with the lowland kodan who call the Isle of Janthir home, master new ways to fight and explore, and unlock a homestead (an account-wide personal housing instance) of your own. Over the course of three quarterly releases that follow the initial launch, you’ll have the opportunity to challenge new content, explore additional story in a third new map, craft a legendary spear and backpack, and obtain new Wizard’s Vault rewards, cosmetic items, relic effects, and more.
Homesteads will be "unlocked and developed through an associated Mastery line." Players will be able to share their spaces with friends. Players will also be able to access nodes and unlockable resources from the personal story home instance. There will be "loads more" to share about the Homesteads ahead of the expansion's release.
Spears will now be a weapon that can be utilized on land. Previously in Guild Wars 2, players could only use these weapons underwater. This means that you will need to equip a spear in both weapon slots if you want to use them underwater and on land. However, it also means that any skins you unlock, or have unlocked, will be usable on any spear type. In addition, if you craft the legendary spear, Kamohoali'i Kotaki, you can use that in either slot as well.
The new expansion will also feature new raids and encounters. These challenging encounters will be released with each of the three new story chapters that follow Janthir Wilds. The first of which will be out around November 2024.
The Warclaw mount will be introduced to players during the story of the expansion. This was a WvW (PvP) exclusive mount prior to the expansion. The WvW Warclaw will be overhauled with improvements based on things learned about mounts since it was introduced.
Speaking of PvP, there will be a new PvP game mode coming. Details on this mode are scarce. However, there will be a prototype of a map and early mechanics that will begin beta testing later this year. Player feedback will be used to refine the new game mode and content before it's considered to be ready for prime time.
Finally, the Guild Wars teams say that Guild Wars 2 is coming to the Epic Games Store. This release will take place later this summer.
