When heart of Thorns appeared on the internet last week, Guild Wars 2 developers ArenaNet simply told fans to wait until PAX for an official announcement. That panel has come and gone, and Heart of Thorns has been properly revealed as the first expansion to one of the best MMOs around. And it’s bringing with it some genre defining changes.
Unlike traditional expansions, Heart of Thorns won’t be raising the games level cap. ArenaNet don’t want players to continue leveling upwards, but rather expand sidewards. Capped players will have new training opportunities open to them, which will expand their repeater of abilities rather than increasing a number.
“The Mastery system adds meaningful progression without invalidating your hard-earned levels and gear.”
Heart of Thorns also introduces a brand new class specialization. The Revenant is exactly what the name implies. A bit of a brute that is able to take damage while also throwing out some elemental mist magic. New specialization will also be made available for existing characters, which will unlock new weapons, traits, skills and unique mechanics.
On the physical content side of things, a brand new area will be added to the already enormous map. Maguuma Jungle will come packed with traditional Guild Wars 2 content, including quests, events, lore and bosses. There’s also a new Stronghold mode for PVP, which has players attacking and defending key strongholds. ArenaNet has promised to work in the new mode with Guilds as well, in case you were worried.
You can also hand glide around the map now, which is both confusing at intriguing for Guild Wars in particular.
Heart of Thorns definitely sounds like a featured filled expansion that is far meatier than the games regular content updates. I stopped playing a while ago but I may just have to get back into the swing of things again before launch, which doesn’t have a concrete date just yet.
Last Updated: January 26, 2015
Clara van Staden
January 26, 2015 at 20:50
Woohoo! Looking forward to new legendaries. 😀
HairyEwok
January 27, 2015 at 08:58
Wonder what dynamic quests will pop up when playing in the jungle…. Weed the plants? Water the plants? Squish all the bugs?
Kensei Seraph
January 27, 2015 at 07:41
I should probably see about getting my character up to lvl 80 one of these days.
Galbedir
January 27, 2015 at 08:09
Started playing again the night I heard there was an expansion coming. Been waiting for this MUCH MUCH MUCH needed expansion for ages. Got 8 Chapters of Living story to still work through…
Tosh MA
January 27, 2015 at 08:30
Ditto man, lots of bloody story. And I don’t want to skip the cutscenes, because story.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 27, 2015 at 09:34
I did too lol. I still have a crap load to get through
Shas 'O Norm
January 27, 2015 at 08:36
Time to flex my warriors muscles again.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 27, 2015 at 09:20
I started playing again to catch up before the launch of the expansion 🙂