14 DAY TRIAL // Developer ArenaNet and publisher NCsoft have just revealed the first footage of Heart of Thorns gameplay, during a Guild Wars 2 livestream.
Guild Wars 2 was hailed by many as a World of Warcraft killer, only it wasn’t. It tried to do some new things, which is rare in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game genre, where pretty much everyone tries to emulate Blizzard Entertainment’s hit.
This won it some love from the MMO community and from the throng of Guild Wars players, and there are still a ton of people enjoying it regularly.
More are about to do that soon, as ArenaNet plans to release the Heart of Thorns expansion, adding a ton of new content and gameplay revisions.
The developers has streamed some gameplay on Twitch at EGX Rezzed, and you can get a look at some mad player versus player action on the new World vs. World borderlands map, in the video below.
ArenaNet is still figuring out the details of the transition to the new map
The desert-themed map is set to replace the existing alpine one, and it packs a ton of neat goodies, including elemental keeps, forts that use existing terrain to bolster defenses, an intriguing event that takes place every three hours, and a brand new siege weapon.
The event revolves around players grouping up at the center of the Oasis, recovering power cores for their teams in order to power a mega-weapon in the middle of the map. The mechanic offers teams that have fallen behind a great way to make a comeback.
The footage has been captured by Eurogamer, and you can also watch the entire EGX panel, going over the improvements and additions coming to Guild Wars 2, if you’re interested in where the game is going.
The expansion will add new group challenges, a brand new profession, alongside some new profession specializations, a new mastery system that tracks character progress through the new territories, on an account-wide basis, and introduces significant changes to player versus player content.
For the time being, there is no prospective release date for the Heart of Thorns expansion, but we’ll come back with the news as soon as anything is announced.
