Guild Wars 2 may not be the discuss of the city anymore, however the fast-paced MMO remains to be chugging alongside properly, with a significant new desert-themed enlargement – Path of Fire – launched simply this September. It’s actually relatively good, bringing some satisfyingly weighty-feeling mounts to the sport, making exploring really feel recent and enjoyable once more.
For those that purchased Path of Fire and have already hammered your means by means of the primary story arc, get able to mud the sport off once more, maybe ahead of anticipated. The fourth season of ‘Living World’ episodic content material will start this month. Read on for a teaser trailer and a few data on what this may entail.
For those that may need tapped out of Guild Wars 2 earlier than the primary enlargement was launched, you will be forgiven for wanting upon the phrases ‘Living World’ with skepticism. The first season of Living World content material was patchy at greatest – a collection of small in-world occasions, punctuated with minor dungeon runs that had been solely out there for a restricted time. The end result of all of it was admittedly spectacular, with the first trade-hub metropolis of Lion’s Arch totally destroyed by mad scientist supervillain Scarlet, leaving gamers to combat by means of the ruins towards her military of robotic minions.
Lion’s Arch has since been rebuilt with a radically completely different aesthetic, leaving an fascinating mark on the game-world for many who keep in mind the occasion. There was additionally a brand new zone added, though it’s now thought of totally non-obligatory, and unrelated to the story as a complete. Beyond that, solely recycled fragments of the primary season’s story arc can be found to play now through the Fractals of The Mists, a problem mode the place gamers undertake a series of mini-dungeons of escalating problem. Hardly a grand legacy.
The second season was a marked enchancment over the primary, and noticed the beginning of a brand new narrative focus by yourself (now extra actively voiced) protagonist settling into their function as chief of a bunch of adventurers. Season two launched two new and better-integrated zones to the world, and a a lot larger deal with instanced, story-driven content material within the fashion of the bottom sport. So lengthy as you logged in whereas every episode was the most recent, it was added to your account without cost, completely, though johnny-come-lately kinds had the choice to purchase every episode for a pair quid.
Season three was the place the current focus of the sport was correctly established. While the Heart of Thorns enlargement appeared just a little quick on content material at launch, it served as the muse on which to construct one other 12 months and a half’s value of Guild Wars, together with a complete new zone and several other hours of latest story content material in every of the six following episodic updates, greater than making up for the comparatively small preliminary launch. While not individually large, these six new zones added as much as a beneficiant chunk of sport.
Arenanet have promised that the fourth season will observe within the footsteps of the third, presumably including a brand new handful of story quests centered round a brand new zone each 2-Three months from now till when the subsequent main enlargement lands. In essence, shopping for Path of Fire is a little bit like placing cash down on a season move, however given the sheer quantity of stuff added within the wake of Heart of Thorns, I’m very happy to pay in lieu of a conventional MMO subscription.
Season four, Episode 1 of Guild Wars 2 can be touchdown on November 28th. You’ll must personal the Path of Fire expansion to entry it. If you’re curious, the base game (a stable 70+ hours of cooperative RPG in itself, improved by years of patching and sprucing) is totally free now. Pro tip: Use the Action Camera mode. It makes it really feel like a complete new sport. Or Smite, should you’ve performed that.
