Hello, Tyrians!

Welcome back to another set of elite specialization reveals for Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™! If you missed last week’s unveiling of the troubadour (mesmer), galeshot (ranger), and luminary (guardian), be sure to check out last week’s blog.

Today, the focus shifts toward the thief, necromancer, and warrior. Fans of the original Guild Wars® may be familiar with two of the elite specializations we’re talking about today, while the third is full of surprises!

Tune in to our Twitch channel this Friday, August 1, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) for a live preview of these elite specializations. You’ll also be able to play all of the elite specializations yourself during our beta event from August 20 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until August 27 at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

The balance of black-market trade and above-board commerce in Lion’s Arch has tipped toward legitimacy in recent years, and the Captain’s Council has banded together with several smaller factions to claim a place in the Tyrian Alliance. But the discovery of Janthiri artifacts has started a gold rush as explorers hustle to procure rare and valuable items that no living culture can lay claim to.

The somewhat-euphemistically titled antiquaries pride themselves on their scholarly appreciation for the artifacts they acquire. Many even keep a few in their private collections, ready to impress colleagues at the tavern or blindside foes on the battlefield. And whether they’re priory historians or pirates, Lion’s Arch is still their favored nexus for trading and selling their wares and knowledge.

Antiquaries are the pinnacle of accomplished thieves—no longer stealing for material need and purely doing so for the fun of it. With the help of their loyal (but not necessarily reliable) skritt assistants, antiquaries can plunder precious artifacts from their opponents and turn their random spoils into improvised weapons!

Antiquaries can even break the rules of regular combat, allowing them to reverse a dire situation—or, at the very least, take themselves and their opponents out in a blaze of glory. For the thrill-seeking player who delights in rolling the dice and adapting to any situation no matter the outcome, look no further than the antiquary.

Antiquaries acquire new artifacts with the skill Pilfer, which replaces Steal, summoning a skritt assistant from underground to plunder from your target. After a successful Pilfer, instead of stolen skills, antiquaries get the choice of using one of two randomly selected artifacts from across Tyria. These artifacts range from a Kryptis turret that fires automatically at any nearby enemies to a chak organ that produces a shield, protecting you from incoming projectiles. Traits give you finer control over the artifacts you receive, from guaranteeing that you’ll get one offensive and one defensive artifact each time you Pilfer to rerolling your artifacts for new ones at the cost of initiative.

Double Edge, the antiquary’s new skill category, consists of a set of abilities that can be used repeatedly even while on cooldown! The catch? There is a chance for the skill to backfire when used while still cooling down, often with detrimental effects to the user. The chance of the skill backfiring decreases the closer it gets to completing its cooldown, so players who are more risk averse may want to wait a little while before attempting to use a Double Edge skill again.

Ritualism is one of Tyria’s oldest professions. The practice originated in Cantha, where humans discovered that spirits could be summoned from the Mists and bound to a ritualist’s will. In practice, this was traditionally a respectful partnership between ritualists and ancestral spirits—but as the Speakers’ influence spread in recent years, so did their hastily adopted methods of forcibly binding spirits.

Necromancy and ritualism have long been considered separate disciplines, but as open hostility between the Speakers and Jade Brotherhood cools and Cantha becomes one of the Tyrian Alliance’s strongest pillars, ritualists have formed ties with necromantic communities across Central Tyria, Elona, and beyond. Ritualism will gain new practitioners; networks of political support and shared resources will ensure that responsible traditions are favored over cruel shortcuts to power.

As you might expect, the ritualist draws heavy inspiration from its Guild Wars counterpart. We’ll go into more detail during this Friday’s livestream, but our design goal was to capture the key elements of the profession and translate them into Guild Wars 2®. And to achieve that, we started with spirits. Depending on their skill and trait selections, we expect ritualists will be able to specialize into supportive builds or aggressive power-focused builds.

Spirits will be summoned while in ritualist shroud, and the ritualist will also gain access to weapon spells as their utility type. For those who aren’t familiar with weapon spells from Guild Wars, they’re shareable, beneficial effects with similarities to stances and venoms. Some are applied for a specific duration, and others are applied as stacks.

While weapon spells were ally-targeted skills in Guild Wars, in Guild Wars 2 they behave a bit differently. The ritualist will always receive the full effect of the skill, while up to four nearby allies will receive the effect at a reduced amount. For example, one skill may last for five seconds on the ritualist and three seconds on their allies.

The ritualist’s shroud behaves similarly to the necromancer’s: it’s fueled by life force, and damage taken drains the life-force pool. Once life force is fully drained, the player will exit their shroud.

Inside the ritualist shroud, ritualists will have access to three skills that summon spirits: Anguish, Wanderlust, and Preservation. Each of these skills has an initial effect activated by the ritualist, after which the spirit will appear. When a spirit is summoned, it performs a powerful attack before lingering in a more passive state. During that time, the spirit will periodically attack nearby enemies. These attacks can be focused on a specific enemy by targeting that enemy with the shroud’s basic attack; otherwise, the spirits will simply attack an enemy that is in range. Spirits will usually disappear when exiting shroud; however, there is a trait that allows them to stick around longer for a cost.

For example, when activating Anguish, the ritualist performs an initial strike on the target that inflicts cripple and vulnerability and marks that target to take additional damage from your summoned creatures (yes, that includes minions). When Anguish is summoned, it fires a barrage of projectiles at the target that deal additional damage against controlled enemies and for each condition on the enemy.

There’s a lot more to cover about the ritualist shroud, as well as some other trait interactions and the weapon spell utilities, so be sure to tune into the stream on Friday.

Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. A once opulent dynasty and triune of nations scarred by war, pestilence, and the machinations of divines and dragons over the centuries. In times of crisis, the nations of Elona could count on its most steadfast and inspiring of warriors, the paragons, to serve as an unyielding phalanx against their foes without and within.

In the past, these spear- and shield-wielding fighters were a favored specialization among the storied Sunspears. However, the practice faded into obscurity after the second coming of Palawa Joko, who saw the Sunspears summarily crushed and twisted into the Mordant Crescent. The inheritors of the practice eventually reemerged in the years following Joko’s demise.

Today, paragons are still known for conjuring golden ethereal wings and shouting bolstering chants and commands to empower their allies and demoralize their enemies. Hoping to expand this tradition beyond Elona, some Sunspear paragons have begun offering their expertise to those willing to answer the call.

The paragon is a staple pillar of Guild Wars 2 lore, and its elite specialization carries on the traditions of its original iteration. While the spears that were introduced in Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™ have already brought one of the paragon’s key aspects to warriors, this elite specialization further delves into their role as commanders and defenders of Elona, granting them the ability to bolster and aid allies around them with chants and commands.

Their presence is so powerful they can, in a moment of dire need, command their allies not to die! The “We Will Never Yield!” elite skill prevents the paragon and their allies from falling below zero health for a short time.

Paragons build up motivation, a new resource, whenever they use a burst skill. In addition to level 1 weapon bursts, paragons gain access to chants—special burst skills that are available regardless of the weapon equipped. Chant skills come in two parts; the first part occurs immediately when the skill is used, while the second part, the refrain, is a pulsing beneficial effect.

Refrains drain motivation and deactivate when it is depleted. In addition, the effects of the refrain become stronger depending on the current motivation level; thus, they are at their most effective when the paragon stays on the front lines of battle, channeling adrenaline into bursts and chants to keep motivation high.

Paragons also gain access to commands, which function similarly to shouts, affecting either enemies or allies around them. Furthermore, command skills come with an additional property called an echo. Echo is a secondary effect that triggers a short interval after a command is used, granting additional bonuses. However, echoes can also be triggered early by using a burst skill, allowing skilled paragons to strategically time their echo effects to turn the tide of battle.

Six elite specializations have now been revealed, and we’ll be back next week to discuss the final three! Tune into our Twitch channel this Friday, August 1, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) for more details on the ritualist, antiquary, and paragon!

For more information about Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, head over to our official site.

Last week, we announced our sixth expansion, Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™, and with that comes the news that elite specializations are back! Over the next three weeks, we’ll be providing details on all nine elite specializations through trailers, blogs, and livestreams.

This week, we’re focusing on the mesmer, ranger, and guardian! Tune in to our Twitch channel this Friday, July 25, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) for a live preview of these elite specializations. You’ll also be able to play all of the elite specializations yourself during our beta event from August 20 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until August 27 at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

Since the firstborn emerged from beneath the boughs of the Pale Tree thirty-six years ago, many sylvari have taken the lesson, “Where life goes, so too, should you,” to heart—traversing Tyria, battling their “inner dragons,” and finding their place in the time after. These far-flung travelers have seen and done much in such a short time, and some—whether through whim or Wyld Hunt—have taken to regaling Tyrians with tales of recent famous and infamous figures, such as the cunning Dougal Keane, the fearless Almorra Soulkeeper, and even the scathing Scarlet Briar.

Now these sylvari troubadours have returned home from their time abroad to share their craft in good faith and to strengthen the bonds between their people and the rest of the Tyrian Alliance.

Troubadours spin dramatic ballads and tales as their words weave magic and music to raise allies’ spirits and demoralize their foes. Their recitals can even be accompanied by illusory instruments for additional effect.

Troubadours are mesmers who seek to support their allies in battle through the power of music and the fantastical tales of Tyrian heroics. Being more aurally focused, troubadours opt to manifest their power by generating musical notes with their abilities rather than visually deceptive clones. These notes are used to extend the duration of their instrumental enchantments, allowing them to command a lasting presence in combat. Once their orchestra is in full swing, troubadours use their keynote skill, Crescendo, to swing the tide of battle with appropriate flair.

When playing as a troubadour, your shatter skills are replaced by instruments. When an instrument is played, it produces an initial magical effect. Performing with the Reverberating Lute will release waves of sonic energy, damaging enemies. Strumming the Harmonious Harp will create a healing area to provide succor to allies. After an instrument is used, it will continue playing in the background, providing bonuses to the player that can be further augmented through traits.

Troubadours use their voices as well as their instruments. They can recite the tale of Queen Jennah protecting Divinity’s Reach to grant their allies distortion, or they can invoke the story of Scarlet Briar, emulating her cruelty to debilitate their enemies. Troubadours can become a whole band on their own through the grandmaster trait Call and Response, creating an afterimage of an instrument that repeats its effect!

For over a hundred years, the tengu of the Dominion of Winds have kept their gates shut and their arrows trained on the outside world. After minions of Primordus and Jormag threatened to siege the dominion’s walls in the last dragonrise, some tengu have emerged to more actively engage in Tyrian affairs and—as a rare honor—offer cultural exchanges at the behest of their royal houses. One such exchange is the honored tradition of the galeshot.

These tengu archers, skilled and oathbound to protect the royal houses, are able to summon the four cardinal winds to form a powerful cyclone bow and deliver swift justice to their foes. As contributing members of the Tyrian Alliance, the tengu now offer tutelage in these skills to willing outsiders who express interest in the galeshot craft.

Galeshots are rangers and the premier archers of Tyria. Using their aptitude for nature magic, they can sculpt and command the wind at will. This power is manifested in the Cyclone Bow, a weapon that is capable of long-range devastation. The Cyclone Bow increases in strength as it’s used, culminating in a powerful coup de grâce to dispatch your enemies. Learning from nature, galeshots emulate birds in the sky by employing squalls of air. They are swift and graceful to ensure advantageous positioning in battle.

Galeshots are able to call upon the Cyclone Bow at will. The Cyclone Bow generates arrows over time. These arrows are a resource used to fuel its skills, such as Supersonic Arrow, a lightning-fast shot of wind that deals heavy damage to enemies it pierces.

As you use arrow-consuming skills with the bow, you progress toward enabling its finale, Hawkeye. Hawkeye locks on to your target and nearby enemies, then unleashes a hail of shredding arrows.

These archers utilize squalls to control the flow of battle. They can call upon a freezing wind to chill their projectiles, launch themselves with a whirlwind, or even summon a raging tornado. Galeshots can form a closer bond with their avian allies through traits like Flock Together, enhancing bird pets and granting quickness to allies with beast skills.

In the years following the charr civil war and the scattering of Bangar’s Dominion, relations between the four legions have remained steady, bolstered by events after the end of the dragon cycle. With the Flame Legion formally rejoining the legions and the Iron Legion having appointed Smodur’s successor, the two legions sought to commemorate the changing times with a joint project. Thus, the luminary was born.

In a shrewd diplomatic play, the two legions have since agreed to share their combined efforts with the Tyrian Alliance and its member races in the spirit of continued collaboration in this new era.

Luminaries bear an enchanted iron brazier that sustains a powerful sacred flame. The bearer can wreathe themselves with this fire and wield a blazing arsenal of weapons against their foes while striking powerful stances mid-fray.

Luminaries are guardians, stalwart combatants on the battlefield capable of putting out respectable damage or supporting their allies. Their brazier provides energy for the Radiant Shroud, in which they are able to wield various weapons of light and flame to adapt to the situation at hand. Luminaries also have access to stance utility skills, gaining additional tools for offense, defense, crowd control, and mobility.

Radiant Shroud is a new take on the shroud mechanic. This shroud has no limiting resource, allowing players to always enter when the shroud is not on cooldown. While in radiant shroud, your weapon skills are replaced with five new skills: a basic attack in the first slot and four radiant weapon skills in the second through fifth slots.

Using a radiant weapon skill will equip that weapon while performing an initial attack and then flip over into the weapon’s additional skill. The luminary’s Grandmaster minor trait, Radiant Armaments, grants a unique passive bonus based on the equipped weapon, which lingers for a bit after exiting shroud.

Luminaries looking to maximize their outgoing damage may want to use the hammer right before exiting to take advantage of its bonus damage passive, while those who need to support their allies might prefer to end on staff to gain access to its increased outgoing healing. Players are free to use all four weapons while in shroud, but there is a tradeoff: the recharge time of Radiant Shroud will increase for each weapon used beyond the first.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our first of three elite specialization previews. We’ll be back next week with details on the next three—and don’t forget to tune in to our Twitch channel this Friday, July 25, at 12:00pm Pacific Time (UTC-7) for a closer look at the troubadour, galeshot, and luminary!

Today we’re thrilled to announce our next expansion, Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™ and its release date! Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity launches on October 28, 2025, and, like the previous two expansions, will bring with it a year of story chapters and three major content updates. You can get an overview of what to expect from our sixth expansion on the official page, and we’ll be sharing tons of additional details between now and launch.

Tyria’s leaders are anxious about rumors of covert Inquest voyages launched in search of Castora, an island so remote that it’s long been thought to be inaccessible—or even nonexistent. The risks involved prevent all but the most tenacious (and perhaps foolhardy) of pursuers from investigating the Inquest’s plan.

Your race to discover the Inquest’s plot will lead you across two new open-world regions at launch, each filled with magical energies and strange creatures. Two additional maps will open as the story continues over the course of a year. For Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, we’ll be releasing story chapters differently than we’ve done for the previous two expansions. To read about this and other insights, see our Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™ retrospective blog from last week.

Elite specializations are back! Influences from members of the Tyrian Alliance bring new ways to play each of our nine professions. In Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, you’ll experience new trait lines, profession mechanics, and healing, utility, and elite skills, adding many new ways to play your characters.

From August 20 to 27, we’re holding an in-game preview week for you to beta test all of the elite specializations. When that preview arrives, we’ll ask for your feedback to help us take each elite specialization through the polish phase and into launch. All players with a Guild Wars 2 account in good standing may participate in the preview.

We’ll be back next week to kick off a series of blogs and livestreams to talk about the elite specializations in great detail. Stay tuned!

In Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, the skimmer mount will be featured with new and updated mechanics. Hover, dive, and soar faster than ever before as you explore the dangerous and beautiful environments of Castora!

In 2026, raids and strikes will be unified under the same structure, improving access for new players and streamlining rewards. We’re also investing in systems that help facilitate group content, which we’ll talk about more in the future.

Two new raid encounters (including challenge modes and a legendary mode) will be added in the major updates to Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity next year. In addition, a new Convergence and fractal with challenge mode will also release in the final expansion update next year, giving players lots of obstacles to tackle and overcome!

Over the course of the expansion and its subsequent content updates, players can pursue six new legendary items: three new weapons, a ring, an accessory, and the long-requested aquabreather!

Players who own both Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds and Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity will get to unlock a whole new homestead map! You’ll also be able to save your decoration layout and freely swap between the Janthiri and Castoran maps with the new layouts feature. We’ll share more information about the new homestead and layouts in the coming months.

The Wizard’s Vault will continue to offer new seasonal rewards for players to earn as they play through the expansion. New relics will bring players more options for their builds and combat capabilities. And, of course, you’ll also be able to earn new armor, weapons, recipes, emotes, and more!

Prepurchasing any edition of Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity before the expansion launches at approximately 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) on October 28, 2025, comes with three rewards: the exclusive Plumed Commodore’s Hat helm skin, the exclusive “Eternal Alchemist” title, and a box with your choice of one Chromatic Resin weapon skin.

Visit the official store page for full details on the Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate editions. You can prepurchase the expansion through the official store or from the in-game store, Steam, EGS, or official retailers.

We have one final feature that will launch in one of the major updates to Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity next year and will be available to all players regardless of expansion ownership: fashion templates!

Fashion templates function similarly to build and equipment templates, allowing players to save a template of the aesthetic features for their armor, back item, outfits, and dyes. We’ll share more information here in the future about fashion templates—and all the other features coming with Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity!*

You can read more details about the full contents of Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity on the product page. It’ll be a busy summer as we prepare to set sail for Castora, so stay tuned for more information!

*This post was amended on July 15 with a corrected list of features managed by fashion templates.

Hey, Guild Wars community,

With the final content update for Guild Wars 2®: Janthir Wilds™ now live, we’ve officially wrapped our fifth expansion, which is the second built under the annual release model we introduced in early 2023.

Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds tested how we tell stories, evolve systems, and deliver meaningful updates on a faster, more consistent schedule. Some things landed well. Others, not as much.

Just like we did after Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™, we’ve been listening to your feedback and acting on it. In this blog, we’ll share how those lessons are shaping our next expansion and the changes you can expect to see. This will give you helpful context as we unveil our next expansion next week.

Over the past nine months, Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds brought a wide range of new experiences to Tyria.

Across nineteen story chapters and four new open-world maps, the narrative explored the aftermath of the Elder Dragon era through a more grounded and political lens. Your choices helped shape the balance of power in a world learning to live without that existential threat and uncovered ancient secrets best left buried.

We brought spears to land combat—our first new terrestrial weapon type since the game’s launch—along with a new set of relics that deepened build crafting and expanded playstyle customization.

Our endgame offerings grew as well. You took on the game’s first new raid in over five years, complete with challenge and legendary modes. We also introduced a new Convergence encounter and a fractal dungeon with its own challenge mode, adding more variety and goals for PvE-focused players.

Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds also marked the arrival of Homesteads, a major feature that brought player housing to the game. That was paired with a rework of the decoration system, updates to the warclaw mount, two new legendaries, tons of new armor and weapon sets, Wizard’s Vault refreshes, and a long list of quality-of-life upgrades.

In PvP, we built something new with your help. The Push game mode began as a prototype and evolved through multiple public betas, shaped directly by player feedback. Co-developing a competitive mode in a live environment is rare, and we’re proud of what it represents. The final version launches later this summer, and we hope it sets a precedent for future community-driven efforts.

Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds delivered a lot in a short amount of time. That momentum was only possible because of your passion, creativity, and honest feedback.

Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds launched in August of last year, followed by three quarterly updates. After the first of those updates arrived in November 2024, we heard consistent feedback from the community: the additional story content felt too short, and the lack of a new open-world map made the update feel noticeably light. Similar reactions to story scope followed the second and third releases, signaling that the pacing and structure of these releases could better align with your expectations.

For our next expansion, we’re refining that structure to give each update more depth and impact. The first quarterly release after the expansion’s launch will not include new story or map content. Instead, it will focus on updates to core systems and longstanding features. This approach gives us the space to revisit foundational elements of the game—improvements that support the long-term health of Guild Wars 2 and reflect the design philosophy outlined in the “Building Smarter, Not Bigger” section below.

By focusing on story and map development in the second and third quarterly updates, we’re able to make those releases more robust and satisfying. Each will introduce a larger, more content-rich map and a longer, more fully developed story than what players saw in the equivalent Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds updates. While the total amount of story content across the expansion is increasing modestly, the bigger benefit is how much more meaningful each individual release will feel, along with the scope improvements to the open-world maps.

This approach allows for more complete and satisfying story arcs, and it results in a net increase in total content delivered over the course of the expansion.

One of our biggest priorities right now (and likely for years to come) is untangling years of accumulated system complexity. That means streamlining overlapping features, reducing technical debt, and reinforcing what makes Guild Wars 2 shine. This complexity doesn’t just slow us down behind the scenes. It also makes onboarding harder for new and returning players, even in areas designed for seasoned adventurers like endgame PvE.

Over the past two expansions, we’ve shifted away from stacking new systems on top of old ones. Instead, we’re focusing on sustainable upgrades to the game’s foundation.

Features like the Wizard’s Vault didn’t just offer something new; they replaced daily achievements and login rewards with a streamlined, modern alternative. Weaponmaster Training and relics were built to expand existing build systems. Homesteads and the decoration system overhaul also improved guild halls. We also updated core mount systems during both expansions, with refinements to the skyscale in Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure and improvements to the warclaw in Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds. Each change was designed to strengthen features you already use and love.

Support for newly introduced features doesn’t end at launch. Since the Homesteads feature debuted, we’ve continued to expand and refine the system with new decorations and quality-of-life improvements, including an increase to the overall decoration cap in the final Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds release, “Absolution.” In our upcoming July 15 release, we’re doubling the decoration area limit from 200 to 400. This directly addresses one of the most common requests we’ve heard from you. You can also expect to see continued support for the Homesteads feature in our next expansion as we build on this foundation.

These kinds of changes may not always grab headlines, but they make the game easier to understand, easier to maintain, and more enjoyable to play. Just as importantly, they reflect what many of you have asked us to do: focus less on introducing entirely new systems and more on refining and modernizing what we already have. That’s a direction we believe in, and one we’re proud to continue as we build the next chapter of Guild Wars 2.

Over the past two expansions, we’ve expanded options for combat by giving you more tools to customize your builds and play your way. Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure introduced new weapon proficiencies for every profession and separated relics from runes to deepen build crafting. The addition of Weaponmaster Training was also a major step forward in allowing players to freely mix and match elite specialization weapons across builds, and the addition of land spears offered a new weapon for every profession to use.

With our next expansion, we’re taking the next step. Elite specializations are making a return, this time designed to work together with the flexible build crafting system we’ve been refining over the past few years. However, these new specializations won’t come with dedicated weapons. Instead, each one introduces unique profession mechanics, a new trait line, utility skills, an elite skill, a healing skill, and distinct playstyles without locking you into a specific weapon or equipment loadout.

These new specializations are designed to feel fresh, fun, and unique to Guild Wars 2 while building on the systems you already know and love. We’ll have much more to share soon.

The launch of the Mount Balrior raid wasn’t just a development milestone for us—with both legendary and challenge modes, it was a long-awaited return for players eager to take on high-end group content. It marked a turning point in our ongoing effort to revitalize endgame PvE.

Over the past few years, we’ve focused on delivering meaningful, replayable encounters across both raids and Strike Missions. Most recently, we returned to our encounter design roots with Kinfall, a new fractal designed in direct response to player feedback. With Kinfall, we stepped back from the raid-like complexity of recent fractals and focused instead on creating a streamlined, repeatable experience that captures the feel of early favorites. The challenge mode arrived a few weeks later, offering both accessibility and satisfying difficulty.

Looking ahead, we’ll continue to expand endgame content—including new encounters complete with challenge and legendary modes. But just as important as adding more is making that content better, more approachable, and more rewarding to return to.

In the first quarterly release of our next expansion, that means unifying raids and Strike Missions into a more consistent structure, improving onboarding for newer players, reworking parts of the UI, streamlining rewards, and investing in systems that help group content feel easier to step into and more meaningful to stick with.

We want Guild Wars 2‘s endgame to be something anyone can grow into, whether you’re joining your first organized group or aiming to master every challenge we throw your way.

Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds helped us learn where to push harder, where to simplify, and how to better listen to the needs of our players. Your feedback didn’t just resonate with us; it reshaped how we’re thinking about the game and how we’re building what’s coming next.

Mark your calendar—you’ll get your first look at the next expansion on July 15. Thanks again for your passion, your support, and your belief in this world—and in the people who bring it to life.

See you next week,

Josh Davis, Game Director

P.S. Thanks for reading this far. Here’s another teaser for your troubles.