New GW2 mini expansion announced.
Not digging the generic artstation MTG look of the splash art. Hope that isn't indicative of the art direction of the expansion ingame. Also not into the generic theme of wizards and demons.
It's a floating sky island themed expac?
Sounds like they aren't going to rework Untamed's ambush mechanic? Darn.
Being able to mix and match weapons doesn't do anything for me. I main Ranger. Playing core/vanilla Ranger is unviable in strikes/PvP/WvW. There is only one elite spec that ties into the ranger + pet fantasy, the Untamed (Druid is a healer and ignores the pet, Soulbeast cannibalizes the pet). The ranger weapons I most enjoy are greatsword, longbow, and hammer, all of which I could use as an Untamed anyway.
Being able to use a shield, greatsword, or shortbow as a Revenant sounds cool though. Those are classic hero weapons.
we’re granting each profession proficiency with an additional weapon.
...
Ranger: Mace (main and off hand)
Ooo. Maybe interesting. Might be cool to have a shield too. Be a shield warrior with a pet at his side. Maybe they will let Rangers wear shields in next year's expansion?
the Elder Dragon cycle that dominated major events from the original launch through Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons™ has come to a close.
The Elder Dragon cycle didn't end. There is still a cycle of Elder Dragons gobbling up magic, getting sleepy, going dormant for thousands of years as their magic bleeds off, and then waking up again. The only difference is that the number of dragons has shrunken down from 6 to 1. The world is still screwed since one dragon can't contain all of the magic, and will either go insane or explode.
In fact, today’s game update includes a small scene to transition out of the End of Dragons storyline. This interlude brings us to a scenic overlook in Seitung Province, where one of our dearest comrades has some…bittersweet news to share.
Oh gosh please tell me Taimi is dead! Lemme log in to check.
New fractal where you used a grappling hook and a parachute to delve into the cave was fun, though I don't see it having much replay value. Missed opportunity for the Kanaxi fight to have you jump from platform to platform as he shatters the pillars you're standing on, rather than just going back to the same one platform.
New story journal stuff was an instance where you talk to Aurene. Hm. The writers remembered the part about Elder Dragons going to sleep but seem hesitant to commit to her never waking up again during GW2. Also once again ignored the part about dragons exploding or going crazy if they have too much magic.
No cutscene where you see her fly off into the sunset? Aw.
That's a cool new skin. I hope it is appropriately scaled for Charr! Right now every Skyscale skin except for the Broad-Horned Bull looks comically small for Charr characters.
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure skyscale Mastery line includes new abilities, like the Fireball aerial attack you’ll unlock at tier two.
Does that mean we can attack from the air while remaining on our dragon?
Tier 4–Wind Beneath Your Wings - Flying mounts can use updrafts
Only really useful in HoT and season 3 zones as those are the only zones that updrafts really appear in.
5–Combat Launch Gain the ability to mount your skyscale in combat
Sounds like they're going to design more fights where you need to fly to another platform quickly. You can mount up and fly from platform to platform during the Mouth of Mordremoth meta but there is a delay as you have to wait for you to exit combat.
As you fight off the ravages of the Kryptis, you’ll make allies of the Wizard’s Court and the Astral Ward—ancient protectors of Tyria who have been brought out of their seclusion by the Kryptis threat.
Where were these guys during the past 11 years? What, were rampaging Elder Dragons that wiped out entire civilizations and threatened to destroy reality too low level of a threat for them?
The Wizard’s Vault is a new streamlined rewards system that combines the best elements of the daily login and daily achievement systems, allowing you to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to–whether it’s PvE, Player vs Player, or World vs World, or a mix–and earn a wide variety of exciting rewards for doing so.
With the release of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure, you’ll receive new objectives to complete daily, weekly, and with each quarterly release. As you complete objectives you’ll earn Astral Acclaim, a new account-wide currency, which can be exchanged for rewards of your choosing, such as new weapons and armor skins, a small selection of items previously exclusive to the gem store, crafting materials, gold, mystic coins, legendary crafting starter kits, and more. Those rewards will refresh on a quarterly basis—but fear not! As new items cycle in, any Wizard’s Vault–exclusive rewards will simply move into a legacy section of the vault, where they’ll remain available for the same type of currency indefinitely. Our goal is for Wizard’s Vault rewards are meant to be attainable through regular, normal play; there are no paid upgrades or progression skips, and the legacy section exists to take the time pressure off and allow players to catch up if they take a break.
Sounds like the Great Vault/Trading Post from WoW.
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure will also introduce a new set of legendary armor: Obsidian armor. This will be the first set that doesn’t require heavy investment into raids or competitive experiences—instead, the various crafting components come from open-world gameplay in Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure.
Hopefully it won't cost $400 in mats to build. I finished acquiring all of the timegated rated PvP mats to craft the legendary PvP armor, and then stopped when I calculated the costs and realized I would have to drop hundreds of dollars to buy the rest of the mats off of the auction house, or spend thousands of hours I don't have no-lifing GW2 to farm them myself.
Overall ambivalent. Half of an expansion in terms of content with only a $5 price drop. Theoretically, the two new expansion maps could be double sized and have HoT-tier level design (there is a reason why HoT maps are still the most populated 8 years later), but given Anet's track record over the past few years that's almost certainly not going to happen. But when it comes to 3D high fantasy RPGs, my choices are extremely limited.
EDIT:
Now that the class rebalances have been out for a few hours...
Yikes at the new ranger changes.
Spirits no longer give alacrity. RIP the low APM alacrity hammer build where all you had to do was keep your spirits up and press hammer 2 and 4 every 6 seconds.
They reduced the cooldown on the Untamed's pet abilities which you have to manually press (unlike vanilla ranger pet abilities which can be automated). Higher APM whether you want it or not.
Fervent Force is dead! RIP our high survivability double axe build.
The devs increased the damage of the unleashed ambush skills. Fervent Force has been replaced with Let Loose, which causes your Unleashed Ambush skills to give boons. None of this matters because flipping back and forth between unleashed pet/ranger stances is still clunky and not worth the bother. You have to press F5 to enter unleashed ranger, press 1 to use your first weapon's unleashed ambush, press ~ to weapon swap to your second weapon, press F5 to switch to unleashed pet, press F5 again to switch back to unleashed ranger, and then press 1 to use your second weapon's unleashed ambush. That is a 5 step process to use this trait.
Dagger's unleashed ambush skill is a shadowstep teleport. That is cool. Combined with Unnatural Traversal, you could become a some sort of nature ninja teleporting all over the place, though the fundamental issue with how clunky Unleashed Pet/Ranger swapping is would need to be addressed first.
Feels really bad.
