ArenaNet have really impressed with their frequent updates to Guild Wars 2. As a game that requires no subscription to play, it would have been understandable, almost expected, for the MMO to receive extra content in the form of paid DLC, or only minor updates. However, ArenaNet have so far delivered on their promise to consistently add more content for players, in the form of huge, monthly story-based expansions that add dungeons, story quests and locations. This all about to change though.
For the better, apparently.
ArenaNet have announced that they are bring a “Living World” system to Guild Wars 2, promising fortnightly updates that change the world based on player actions. From the announcement:
“Our goal is to make Guild Wars 2 the most frequently updated and best supported game experience you can find, and to that end, every two weeks there will be a release with brand new playable content and a mix of supporting features and updates across the entire game. As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days— those are now the only two states you’ll find the world of Tyria.”
This is fantastic for players of Guild Wars 2, to see the company still expanding on the already feature-filled game. Creating a world that is permanently impacted by player choices has always been something sorely missing in most MMOs, so it’ll be interesting to see whether ArenaNet can deliver on this.
Wccftech talked to Guild Wars 2 Game Director Josh Davis about the learnings from the Secrets of the Obscure expansion and what's coming to the MMORPG.
The "slippery slope" debate has started, now we wait to see what ArenaNet does.
"ArenaNet and NCSOFT are today very happy and excited to announce that they have just released the "Secrets of the Obscure" expansion for their award-winning and critically acclaimed MMORPG "Guild Wars 2"." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Anet also announced the 5th expansion. "We’ve already started applying lessons from the development of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure to our fifth expansion, which we expect to be released next year." From their site, been with this game since 1st beta, and announcing the 5th expansion so soon, the game is doing very well, plus the graphics are improved a bit now that it's on DX11🙃
this is how you support a game without milking your customers for their money.
5 years later
"In their attempt to make Guild Wars 2 more of a living world, ArenaNet have accidentally made the game self aware, in recent news the game has decided to conquer the world.
I for one welcome our new video game overlord."