What You Need To Know About The Next Guild Wars 2 Expansion
/And just like that Guild Wars 2 is getting a second expansion called Path of Fire. There's a lot of cool features and new content revealed when ArenaNet officially announced it, but what's most shocking is when it will be available - in two months time. Here are a few things to know about Path of Fire.
Dragons, Take A Seat, The Big Baddie Is A God
If you're following the current story, Tyria has experienced the awakening of two massive Elder Dragons; Zaitan, and Mordremoth, both the main baddies in Guild Wars 2's story. After you've defeated Mordremoth during the Heart of Thorns expansion, the third season of Living World continues the story and just recently revealed the next big threat for Tyria - a god. Yes, Balthazar, the god of fire and wrath has appeared and is up to no good. This is an interesting twist since Guild Wars 2 was always about the threat of the Elder Dragons. Instead of going from dragon to dragon as the story moves forward, they introduced the elements of a god roaming the lands, putting Tyria at risk yet again.
Mounts Can Be Used Almost Everywhere
The big feature in the Path of Fire expansion is the addition of mounts. Just like the ability to glide almost anywhere in Tyria thanks to the last expansion, you can use the different kinds of mounts that will be available on launch in most of the game's content. The only limitation is that you can't use them during WvW or PVP instances. Still, it will be fun to travel through the old and new lands with the four types of mounts, equipped with unique abilities to traverse the landscape.
This Is A Content Expansion
ArenaNet considered the Heart of Thorns expansion as a way to improve the game's systems by introducing the Mastery system and class specialization. The groundwork has been laid out and Path of Fire is simply adding on to what they already have working. When Path of Fire comes out, new Masteries will be available to unlock as you go through the new content and each class available in the game will have one new elite specialization to add more options in playstyle. There's no increase of level cap for this expansion. ArenaNet is focused on continuing their style of what they call horizontal progression.
New Specializations For Each Class
Speaking of Specialization, each of the nine classes will have one new elite specialization tree that adds new traits, a new weapon to wield, and new utilities to choose from.
Here are the new Specializations for each class and the weapon it can equip:
Guardian - Firebrand (Axe)
Ranger - Soulbeast (Daggers)
Elementalist - Weaver (Sword)
Engineer - Holosmith (Sword)
Thief - Deadeye (Rifle)
Warrior - Spellbreaker (Daggers)
Revenant - Renegade (Short Bow)
Necromancer - Scourge (Torch)
Mesmer - Mirage (Axe)
Specializations was a great addition to Guild Wars 2 as it gives classes more variety since roles are important this time around. Like, who would have thought that Rangers can come out as a strong support thanks to the druid specialization? The meta will shift once again when this expansion hits, and it's going to be a treat experimenting on the possibilities.
We Get To Play It Very Soon
I'm not talking in September when the expansion officially launches. On August 11-13, a demo for both old and Free-To-Play players will have access to Path of Fire's first story instance, the first map, and the Raptor mount. A second demo is planned and will allow players to check out the new content for PVP and World vs World, while checking out the new elite specializations.
I'm back in it. With season 3 of the Living World content available right now for players eager to see how the story unfolds and sets up Path of Fire, plus the demo planned before launch, there's a lot to take in on to prepare for the next expansion.
I also want my legendary weapon already. It been three years in the making, literally.
Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire comes out on September 22. The standard edition of the expansion will cost you $29.99, with the deluxe edition priced at $54.99, and the ultimate edition priced at $79.99.
