Guild Wars 2 recently announced its fifth expansion: “Janthir Wilds“! An expansion is always exciting because it means exploring new regions, facing new enemies, and diving into a new story. However, this expansion is especially exciting for some unique reasons. The release date is also coming up soon. The Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds expansion will be available on August 20th, 2024. But for now, let’s dive into what should get you excited about the new expansion.
1. Spears
This one is pretty straightforward. In the Janthir Wilds expansion, players get the option to wield a spear in combat. While spears were previously limited to underwater combat, players can now use them on land. Every profession can wield these spears, and each has its own unique set of skills associated with them.
What’s particularly interesting is that wielding a spear was already possible in the original Guild Wars: Nightfall from 2006. The Paragon profession introduced in Nightfall used spears in combat and supported allies through shouts. These shouts were similar to the Warrior’s shouts, and the two professions often complemented each other in group-based activities. In the original Guild Wars, it was possible to multiclass, allowing a Warrior to use skills from a Mesmer, Ranger, and even a Paragon. Since both Warriors and Paragons used Adrenaline for skills and shouts, this combination was popular.
I’m certain that Warriors will have some skill names loosely based on the Paragons from the original Guild Wars: Nightfall.
For other professions, the trailer has already showcased some spear skills. The Guardian has a flurry of spears that can be used mid-range and as AoE skills while also using their familiar signets. Necromancers gain mobility and close-range AoE with their spears. Rangers get long-range spear abilities, which reminds me of an original Guild Wars build for the Ranger. And an initiation skill that shows the aspect of a tiger.
It’s exciting to see how this will develop. Adding another weapon to the game offers players so much variety in terms of combat. We will know soon enough!
2. The Ilses of Janthir
The Isles of Janthir have been a mystery since I first started playing the original Guild Wars back in 2006 or 2007. This area was always mentioned in story instances, lore books, or dialogues, but we never got to see it. The only hint of its existence was a blurry image on the northwestern part of the world map. In the Janthir Wilds expansion, players will finally be able to visit this area.
One of the most well-known objects of great power, the Eye of Janthir, originated from this isle. One of the stories about Janthir involves Saul D’Alessio claiming the Eye of Janthir. This artifact was used to perform the Test of the Chosen, a false promise by the White Mantle order. The White Mantle, known from both the original Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, deceived the inhabitants of Kryta into believing they would learn under the Grand Masters of the White Mantle. Instead, these inhabitants were sacrificed in the Maguuma Jungle. You can witness the Test of the Chosen in the original Guild Wars, where you try to stop the event from happening.
The Eye of Janthir also appears in the Bastion of the Penitent Raid in Guild Wars 2. Along with a few Mursaat, the Eye kept Saul alive and imprisoned in the raid for over 250 years. After defeating Deimos, the final raid boss, the Eye mysteriously disappears, causing Saul to fade away.
Although the Eye of Janthir is an extremely powerful object, its exact powers are not fully described. It can send shockwaves, has a will of its own, and is tied to True Sight. True Sight allows humans to see someone for who they really are, a gift said to be possessed by all inhabitants of Janthir.
Since we still know very little about Janthir, the game’s writers have almost a clean slate to create new lore for this island. They only have a few ties to the original game to include in their story. This offers them a great opportunity to explore new narrative without the limitations of past storylines. While still respecting the original game’s lore. I’m looking forward to it!
3. Housing
I’ve already mentioned it in my “Dreams of Guild Wars 3” video, which you should check out by the way: we need more housing options.
Personally, I’m not the biggest advocate of housing. I’d rather be out in the open world teaming up with players. However, there’s been a growing demand for players to have a cozy place of their own in the game. With Homesteads, players get the freedom to create and decorate their own houses as they wish.
It’s good to know that this will not replace your current Home Instance in your character’s capital city. This will most likely remain as is or be expanded upon. Homesteads will be an account-wide personal instance that can be upgraded through a mastery. You can invite your friends and guildies over, and it will also feature additional crafting nodes and unlockable resources.
The Homesteads shown in the trailer look great. Even though I’m not that into housing, I’m looking forward to decorating the place! The biggest advantage of Homesteads is that they are account-wide. This means I don’t have to redecorate for each character! I can decorate a bit while on my Elementalist and invite friends over when I’m on my Necromancer.
As my number of characters increases, I long for more account-wide features so I’m not restricted to things tied to a single character. I love it—keep it coming!
4. Raids
Remember the date, June 11, 2019? No? Well, that was the last time a raid was released in Guild Wars 2. The Key of Ahdashim was the final raid of the Path of Fire raid series. Since then, with the releases of End of Dragons, Secrets of the Obscure, and other Living World stories, we haven’t seen any new raids.
Even though I and many others still enjoy playing raids, there has been a long drought. But in the new Janthir Wilds expansion, it was announced that we’ll be getting at least one new raid instance! The expansion will release more content in three phases. In the first phase, somewhere in November 2024, a new raid will be added to the game with three new encounters.
Raids can be extremely challenging, especially when first released or for players who aren’t into extreme DPS checks or complicated mechanics. However, for this new raid, players are given the opportunity to start in a traditional manner with the hard variant featuring DPS checks and complicated mechanics in a 10-player raid instance. Additionally, players can experience this instance in the open world with large groups, similar to the Meta Events we’re very familiar with.
I’m really into raids, so I’m thrilled to see another instance added to the game. But there are many players who aren’t into raids as they’re traditionally presented in Guild Wars 2. I’m happy they’ve added a way for these players to experience the raid’s story through more accessible open-world content. Good move!
5. Reusing Systems
Another point I’ve mentioned in my “Dreams of Guild Wars 3” video is the importance of reusing older or current systems. As I’ve already mentioned with raids, I’m really pleased to see this game mode return and not be left abandoned.
As announced in the trailer, the new expansion will reuse Convergences, a 50-player group event introduced in the Secrets of the Obscure Expansion and subsequent Living World episodes. I’ll be honest with you guys, I haven’t participated in a lot of them yet. But I’m glad to see a familiar system being reused instead of introducing yet another new one. Take Dragon Response Missions, for example—they were introduced and then abandoned. I’d rather see improvements and revamps than abandonment. It creates a lot of bloat in the game and can confuse newer and returning players.
Additionally, the Wizard’s Vault daily reward system, which personally I found to be one of the better systems introduced in the game, will be expanded upon in the new expansion. It’s great to see this being reused and built upon.
6. A New PvP Mode
Something that wasn’t prominently announced is that ArenaNet is working on a new PvP mode to accompany the new expansion. According to a recently released blog post, they have a prototype of the map ready and will start beta testing later this year. Keep your eyes peeled for that because it might be an open beta accessible to everyone. The new PvP mode might not be available immediately when the expansion releases, but it should arrive sometime after.
The current PvP mode we have access to, Conquest, has been in the game since 2012. Since then, there haven’t been any successful new modes added to the game. We had the Stronghold game mode when Heart of Thorns launched in 2015. It was fun initially, but players lost interest over time, and to my knowledge, it’s not playable anymore. The Stronghold game mode took inspiration from Guild vs. Guild battles and Fort Aspenwood game modes from the original Guild Wars. But for me, who played these modes a lot in the original game, it felt more like a MOBA where you had to hire mercenaries and defeat the lord at the end.
There’s little known about this new PvP mode except for a screenshot. However, we will probably hear more about it very soon!
7. Warclaws in PvE
The Warclaw mount, previously exclusive to World vs. World, will now make its appearance in PvE with the Janthir Wilds Expansion. Just like the Skyscale in Secrets of the Obscure, ArenaNet sees this as an opportunity to re-introduce mounts that are somewhat harder or less convenient to acquire. The Skyscale was previously locked behind an enormous collection that could take days to complete, and the Warclaw required skill and effort in World vs. World to acquire. I got a video about that, by the way.
It’s also mentioned that the World vs. World Warclaw will receive a polish by revisiting its skills. Currently, its skillset is focused on initiating combat, crowd control, and siege damage. While this is suitable for World vs. World gameplay, I wonder what its new skillset will be—will it be buffed or remain the same?
It will be interesting to see how the Warclaw can be unlocked in Janthir Wilds. Based on ArenaNet’s blog, they seem to have a more friendly, cat-like appearance rather than a more lion-esque look. However, this could also be a gemstore skin.
The Warclaw’s skills in PvE should complement the palette of other mount skills. We already have strong initiation skills with the Raptor and Skyscale, so what can the Warclaw’s skills offer us? Right now, it has a pounce that deals some damage, but nothing noteworthy. It’s fun to speculate about this, but it’s hard to tell from just an image alone. We will find out soon enough.
What feature do you find most interesting? What are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments.
