The adventure of Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™ continues today! Delve deeper into the island of Castora and experience both its beauty and its increasing perils. In the second of three major updates to our latest expansion, “The Only Way” introduces five new chapters continuing the expansion story, a gorgeous new map, two legendary accessories to craft, two new Masteries, new combat relics, and a refreshed Wizard’s Vault—plus an expansion of Fashion Templates!

You can also read about today’s update in the full release notes.

The launch story for Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity began with an investigation into a series of secretive Inquest voyages out of Lion’s Arch. Skip down to the next section if you want to avoid story spoilers.

In your pursuit of the Inquest, you and your allies sailed to the island of Castora—a place of great danger and intrigue, where magic and history seep from the soil. While tracing the Inquest’s movements, you gained new allies in the village of Hullgarden and a deeper understanding of your enemies’ goals in this mysterious, lost place. Once refuge to the seers, Castora was a test bed for their magic, and you witnessed firsthand how the Inquest harnessed it for their own means. As you dug deeper, you learned that the Inquest kingpin, Director Vloxx, is on a mission separate from his retinue, and he claims to only be interested in the Inquest as a tool. But in the race to retrieve Ancora, a powerful seer artifact, the director pushed just ahead of your efforts. In the end, you were left questioning the motives of Vloxx, who believes that his plans are the only way to save Tyria. Is he right?

It’s been a few weeks now since Principal Biomancer Sebb’s death. Your pursuit of the Inquest lures you deeper into the thicket of Castora, straight to the heart of Eternity’s Garden, our newest map. Once through the thicket, your mission is simple: find and stop the Inquest at all costs. Forge a path through the garden and close the gap between your allies and Vloxx before it’s too late. The Inquest may have a head start, but you have Isgarren’s ancient knowledge on your side, and word has it that fractures have deepened within the Inquest ranks.

Though the dangers here are far greater than the Inquest alone, should their missions prove successful, the strength they’ll gain is incalculable. Will you make it in time?

For a refresher on the expansion story so far, check out our full recap video below:

Our new map for this release is Eternity’s Garden, a place of worship and innovation utilized by the seers thousands of years ago to forge great weapons and amplify the creatures of the island—and themselves. Though long abandoned, the deep forests and temples still hum with life. Castora’s defenses stand eternally ready, and all eyes are fixed upon you. Unfortunately, the Inquest have taken full advantage of their head start and have been establishing fortifications and ransacking seer ruins to exploit their technology.

Eternity’s Garden features a dense, treacherous jungle where the flora is as deadly as the fauna! It’s a mystical environment enhanced with ancient seer security measures, and surprisingly, not all of them are immediately hostile. While exploring the new map, players will discover seer culture, learn how they utilized their magic, and even befriend their constructs. Eternity’s Garden culminates in a climatic new meta-event against the Inquest, which catches the eye of a more ever-present foe. You can even obtain the rare Swiftwing Raptor mount skin as a reward for participating in the meta-event and group events found in the new zone!

Two new legendary accessories are now available for crafting. Stella Radians is a new legendary PvE accessory that illuminates your character with a celestial halo. Strife Unending is a new legendary WvW accessory; its visual effects scale up in combat as you kill enemies and resets when you are defeated. Strife Unending also applies visual effects to siege equipment that you use. Both accessories can be crafted twice, so you can have a copy in both accessory slots.

Today’s update also expands horizontal progression opportunities for your characters with two new Masteries and six expansion relics to earn and unlock.

Earning the Residual Mirror Magic Mastery provides you with a magic find boon after you complete a magic-mirror challenge. Learn the Combat Maneuvers Mastery to enhance the benefits of Stealthy Survivor and Lucky Shield. With this upgrade, Stealthy Survivor allows you to interact with supply stashes to apply stealth even while in combat. Lucky Shield is enhanced to automatically restore your full health points (and grant you a barrier) when you reach 25% health while on Castora!

We’re also building on the Fashion Templates feature released earlier this year, including new ways to change individual cosmetics and the ability to add more of your look to templates! Now mounts, gliders, conjured doorways, and skiffs can all be managed and dyed through your Fashion Template in a special Travel section. Additionally, the Current Fashion tab has been added to both the Wardrobe and Travel sections of Fashion Templates, so you can change cosmetics and dyes without needing to assign them to a Fashion Template.

Do you have astral acclaim burning holes in your pockets? Fear not! New rewards are now available in the Wizard’s Vault. This season, you can earn the first three pieces of the Ward Hunter’s armor set: boots, gloves, and shoulders. The new Enchanted Springer Skin adds glowing runes and magical orbs to another of your favorite mounts. Show off your physique with the “/Flex” Emote Tome, and channel the brilliant spirits of Castora with a collection of skins from the Gwyl Monarch’s weapon set.

Beyond the Wizard’s Vault, there’s also new relics, an infusion, a weapon set, and a variety of other rewards for exploring the new content and map to round out the available goodies!

Twitch Drops are running from now until Sunday, May 17 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7). Earn a Bloodstone Dye Kit, Mini Orange Kitten, Shattered Bloodstone Ascender Combo, and Pirate Captain’s Outfit by watching participating streams after connecting your Guild Wars 2 and Twitch accounts!

As always, this release is just the start of a new quarter full of events:

June

• June 2–23: Dragon Bash
• June 23–30: Fractal Rush Event
• June 30–July 7: Roller Beetle Racing Week

July

• July 7–14: PvP Rush Event
• July 14: Skills and Balance Update
• July 14–21: Dungeon Rush Event
• July 21–28: WvW Rush Event
• July 28–August 4: World Boss Rush Event

August

• August 11–September 1: Festival of the Four Winds
• August 28: Guild Wars 2’s 14th Anniversary

Lastly, we have a new ranger pet we’d like to introduce you to. We think it’s otterly adorable:

We hope you enjoy this latest update to Guild Wars 2. Happy adventuring, and we’ll see you in Tyria!
—The Guild Wars 2 Team

One more week! Our second major release for Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™ launches on May 12, and with it comes new story chapters, a new map and meta-event, two legendary accessories, Mastery updates, a refresh to the Wizard’s Vault, and scads of other rewards and achievements.

We’ll dive into each of these features in more detail next week, but for now, check out our trailer for next week’s release: “The Only Way.”

Greetings, Tyrians! Our next content release for Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™ arrives on May 12 with “The Only Way,” which continues our story on the mysterious island of Castora. Watch the story recap video below to revisit what the commander and their allies have experienced so far in this expansion.

Spoilers ahead!

It’s just been a few months since we released Guild Wars® Reforged, a significant update to our award-winning roleplaying game. Now, as we celebrate its 21st anniversary, we’re expanding our effort to improve access to the original Guild Wars with a new free-to-play mobile app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Preregistration is available now for Android users, who will enjoy a new user interface and control setup specifically designed for mobile play.

When Guild Wars® Reforged launches on mobile, newcomers can download and play select parts of the game for free as an ad-supported client. The free-to-play experience offers access to the entirety of the original Guild Wars: Prophecies™ campaign, while the rest of the game’s available content will be available for purchase. Each campaign’s paid version can be purchased as a standalone add-on for .99. The Guild Wars: Eye of the North™ expansion and Bonus Mission Pack will also be available on mobile for .99 and .99.

Existing Guild Wars Reforged players on ArenaNet accounts can simply log in on mobile to progress their characters across PC, Steam Deck, and mobile devices with no cost, ads, or restrictions!

Testing on mobile will begin soon for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Philippines while global launch is planned for this summer. Existing Guild Wars Reforged players should log in on mobile using their ArenaNet account to carry their progress over. New mobile users will log in to their devices using their Mobile IDs and will have the option to convert their account to an ArenaNet account to continue their progress on other platforms. Unfortunately, Mobile IDs cannot be linked to Steam accounts at this time.

Mobile players will share the same game servers as PC or Steam Deck players, so you can play with your existing friends and guilds on the go! Mobile’s new UI and control setup is also customizable, similar to the PC user interface. Here’s a look at the two experiences side-by-side:

We want mobile players looking for something timeless, social, and built for their enjoyment to experience Guild Wars like our original PC players did twenty-one years ago—with joy and passion! You’ll still be collecting skills throughout Tyria, fighting in tactical combat that rewards skill, exploring this magical world to your heart’s content, while not limited by energy gating or other gimmicks that waste your time or money.

If you haven’t played yet, now is a great time to download and start playing to get ready for the mobile launch. Preregistration is available now on the Google Play game page for Guild Wars Reforged. Apple App Store preregistration will be available soon and we’ll share more info about the global launch of Guild Wars Reforged on mobile this summer!

It’s time for the most pixelated party in Guild Wars 2®, the Super Adventure Festival! Moto has once again opened the doors to his virtual world, inviting players to jump, battle, and collect a treasure trove of new and returning rewards. Moto has also opened a new (partially submerged) test zone for early access!

Super Adventure Festival ends May 5. Check out the full release notes on the official forums, or log into Guild Wars 2 now and check your in-game mail for an invitation to the Super Adventure Festival. Double-click the invitation item to teleport instantly to the Super Adventure Box near Magustan Court Waypoint in Rata Sum.

A range of retro rewards is newly available! In addition to returning awards, adventurers can earn a Powered Vest, Plush Ess Backpack, the Forged-Light weapon set, a Mini Super Red Ooze, and a Retro-Forged longbow, focus, and greatsword. New homestead decorations, including the Super Rapids Flowing Water and Super Rapids Plateau, have also been added.

We’ll be partying up with some of our partners to play Super Adventure Festival. Tune into our Twitch channel at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) on April 17 to join the fun!

Enjoy the festival and good luck testing World 3’s Test Zone 2 for Moto!

Guild Wars® was released 21 years ago this month, and we’re celebrating with a sale. Save during the Anniversary Sale, now through April 16 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific (UTC-7), when you buy or gift Guild Wars® Reforged, Guild Wars Eye of the North™, or the Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack.

• Guild Wars Reforged—40% Off
• Guild Wars Eye of the North—40% Off
• Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack—40% Off

In addition, until April 16 save 40% on all Guild Wars Reforged in-game items!

The sale is also on Steam, but only until April 9 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific (UTC-7).

Adventure awaits!

Tyrians, rejoice! Our yearly Black Lion Trading Company’s March sales have begun! Many discounts are awaiting you, so buckle up and take a gander at our selection. During our sales, we’re adding bundles that will upgrade your account with valuable items. But that’s not all! Some cherished items are about to return to the Gem Store at a discounted price. As always, brand-new cosmetic items and Black Lion Chest updates are on the calendar, too. Follow the trail of discounted goodies over here:

Black Lion Chest Keys will be discounted by 30% during two separate intervals. Stock up from February 27 to March 3 and from March 28 to March 31 to take full advantage of these savings!

• Outfits—25% off
• Unique Weapon Skins—25% off
• Featured Bundle—Fashionista’s Package (see below for details)

• Mount Skins—25% off
• Dye Kits—25% off
• Novelty Items—25% off
• Featured Bundle—Fashionista’s Package (see below for details)

• Backpiece Skins—25% off
• Gliders—25% off
• Chairs—25% off
• Featured Bundle—Build and Equipment Template Bundle (see below for details)

• Unique Armor Skins—25% off
• Emotes and Expansion Items—25% off (includes jade bot skins, fishing rod skins, and homestead items)
• Permanent Finishers—25% off
• Featured Bundle—Superb Storage Package (see below for details)

• Character and Account Upgrades—25% off (includes Bank Tab Expansions, Bag Slot Expansions, Character Slot Expansions, and gathering tools)
• Featured Bundle—Superb Storage Package (see below for details)

We’re kicking off our March sales with an amazing bundle tailored for all lovers of high Tyrian couture! This fashionable offer can only be purchased once per account and contains the following items:

• 1 Black Lion Outfit Voucher
• 1 Black Lion Weapons Voucher
• 1 Black Lion Cape Voucher
• 5 Guaranteed Dye Unlocks

The Fashionista’s Package is now available for 800 gems from February 24 until March 10.

From March 10 until March 17, upgrade your account with our returning template bundle! This offer can be obtained once per account, and it is available for 800 gems.

• 2 Build Template Expansions
• 2 Equipment Template Expansions

From March 17 until March 31, expand your journey in Tyria with a variety of items that’ll enhance your incredible adventures. The Superb Storage Package has a limit of one purchase per account, and it is available for 1,600 gems.

• 1 Bag Slot Expansion and 20-Slot Bag
• 1 Shared Inventory Slot
• 1 Character Slot Expansion
• 1 Material Storage Expander

Have fun, and happy gaming!

Greetings, gamers!

The Competitive team is excited to talk about an upcoming event we’ll be running during the month of March! As we’ve talked about in the past, one of our priorities is to align player goals when it comes to winning and make winning feel important to teams. On the road to reaching this goal, we’ve made several changes to scoring in World vs. World (WvW) in the past. We’ve made updates to victory points and adjusted the points gained from objectives, both per tick and on capture, but now we’re looking at changing how War Score is gained.

Before we dive into the details, it is important to note that the changes we’re making for this event are not final. We’ll be looking for and gathering as much feedback as possible from the community, and we will make updates or even fully roll back changes as needed.

War Score is the term for the points you currently gain from capturing and holding on to objectives. These points accumulate over the course of a skirmish—a two-hour window in WvW—and at the end of each skirmish. Victory points are awarded to teams based on that score, which in turn accumulates over the course of the week. We want to change how War Score is gained throughout the skirmish period while incentivizing and rewarding more active gameplay. To achieve this, we have some War Score rebalancing changes that we’ll be beta testing in an event in the near future!

During this test, we’ll be removing the points gained from holding objectives. This sounds like a big change, and it is, but we’re going to add it back in several different places. You’ll earn points for taking part in multiple different activities in WvW as either a defender or an attacker while ultimately helping your team achieve victory. You can get points for things like killing guards, building siege equipment, and downing and resurrecting players. The purpose of these changes is to give more agency to players when it comes to how their team is performing in the Mist War while not relying so much on passive progress ticks. That being said, it’ll still be extremely important to hold on to objectives and participate in actively defending the objectives you own, as you can generate large amounts of War Score for your team during defense events. Additionally, the points gained from capturing objectives will be increased. Several actions that grant War Score will also scale by objective type, upgrade level, and the number of defenders in the area.

Currently, new teams are created during the first week of each month; however, for this test, we’ll be moving team creation a week earlier, starting on February 27. This means you’ll need to have the correct guild selected for team creation before lockout on Monday, February 23. This test will run for about five weeks, with the next team-creation period returning to its normal schedule on April 3, which will mark the end of this test.

We’re also planning to make some quality-of-life updates to a few WvW systems alongside this test, including allowing waypoints in your home borderland and Eternal Battleground spawn keeps without needing to upgrade and a change to help cut down on players being stuck in their spawn keep versus overwhelming forces on Eternal Battlegrounds. We will also be adding access to the newly released Infinite Utility Primer and Infinite Metabolic Primer via WvW, as we mentioned on the forums. The full notes on these changes will be found in the February 24 release notes.

Before signing off, we want to give a brief overview of some other WvW work that we have planned. During the beta test, we’ll be paying close attention to the amount of War Score being generated from the new sources to see how they’re performing relative to our expectations. We plan to run a second beta test of the system with these War Score adjustments alongside another new system: end-of-match rewards. As mentioned earlier, we want to make winning a match feel more important to teams, and additional incentives for match placement are one element of that. After the second test is complete, we’ll reevaluate the state of War Score distribution, and if we’re happy with the result, the changes will stay enabled. Otherwise, we’ll continue to iterate on the system through beta-event tests until we feel that it meets our goals. End-of-match rewards will be permanently enabled once we’re confident that the updated War Score system is a good representation of playing WvW with the intent to win.

End-of-match rewards are a good reason to care about the match at large, but we also want to reward players for their accolades during smaller chunks of time. With that in mind, we’ll be looking to create a similar reward system on a per-skirmish level to better align with individual play sessions. Log on, play for a skirmish, and get some cool stuff.

Further down the road, we also plan to look at the participation system with many of the same intentions as the War Score updates: rewarding players for active gameplay while removing some of the passivity of the current system.

These plans are largely focused on updating reward structures and incentives to better align with active gameplay, but we’re also looking into new content ideas. While there aren’t any specifics to share just yet, we’re thinking about ways to add new gameplay experiences to WvW. Whether that will be by refreshing existing mechanics or adding new things entirely—i.e., new events—we’ll likely want to leverage a similar beta test and iteration cycle for these new ideas, but our goal is to find things that will be positive permanent additions to WvW.

As always, we’re on the lookout for smaller quality-of-life adjustments or mechanical tweaks to improve the overall gameplay experience and flow of the game mode for the future, and your feedback helps shape the direction of those changes.

Happy gaming! We’ll see you in the Mists!