Guild Wars 2’s upcoming Visions of Eternity expansion is only one week away. For the primary time within the franchise’s historical past, gamers will enterprise past what was explored within the two video games and uncover a brand new land, flora, fauna, and all related risks. Castora is a completely new space, hardly ever mentioned in mainstream Tyrian conversations exterior of apocryphal sailor tales. From the little or no data gleaned from such sources, it’s an island of life and magic unbound.
ArenaNet invited me to discover Castora earlier than its official launch and expertise the primary zone for shut to 2 hours, the place the builders took us on a journey. I received to see every thing from the brand new caves, coves, and shoals; I took half in an occasion in opposition to a T. Rex, ventured into an Inquest lab disguised as a Golem, and even fought in a meta occasion in opposition to two bosses. To not point out, I additionally received a preview of the rewards ready on the distant shores of Tyria.
Castora is gorgeous and lethal
Our exploration started on the beachhead established by a ragtag crew of survivors, who name themselves the Hullgardeners. In the meantime, our personal group of Astral Ward and Tyrian Alliance members ventured inwards, by the snaking waterways and rocky outcrops. We did use the brand new Skimmer mount, and sure, they’re being geared up with many new talents in Visions of Eternity, similar to a lift to extend flight time and peak, in addition to the power to roll by with out dismounting.
As we had been exploring, we came across an Inquest gizmo-laden Tyrannosaurus Rex, being mind-controlled and wreaking havoc. Naturally, everybody dismounted to cease such an inhumane experiment. The following 3 minutes had been spent making an attempt to calm the dinosaur down, whereas making an attempt to cease the Inquest from conducting such an experiment, and the builders guided us by it (and helped us combat it).
It ought to be famous that solely the primary map was obtainable for exploration, and the second was fully off-limits. We additionally took half within the meta occasion of the map, the place we went up in opposition to a norn duo who had been surprisingly aligned with the Inquest. It grew to become clear that there was one other faction of survivors on the island, who name themselves Freebooters and are more likely to fireplace the primary shot and take your cash.
You might have new instruments to tackle Castora’s lethal facet
Throughout this complete tour, I didn’t move up the prospect to play because the Guardian, particularly because the Luminary. Primarily as a result of it’s a class I didn’t get to expertise through the Visions of Eternity Beta Specialization occasion, and secondly, as a result of I discovered the specialization’s theme to be reactive. It offered simply sufficient injury, boon help, and crowd management impact to make it a particularly versatile class.
You wouldn’t want such instruments if Castora weren’t a harmful place to start with. Dinosaurs are scary as it’s, and now the Inquest has given them mechanical implants and “upgrades” in Visions of Eternity. After which there are the Freebooters. Beginning as mere pirates, they’ve additionally obtained Inquest tech and, naturally, have turn out to be formidable enemies. None extra so than the 2 aforementioned meta-event bosses.
I gained’t give out a lot details about the combat, simply that gamers will discover out they’re virtually magnetically attracted to 1 boss over the opposite, just like how teams have to align themselves to particular feelings to fight Eparch’s summons. I don’t assume will probably be a really tight DPS chase like Eparch was, however will probably be on the identical scale as Greer and Decima in Janthir Syntri.
Placing the motion subsequent to the journey in Visions of Eternity
Once we requested the builders concerning the greatest inspiration for the crew and what formed the general improvement of Castora, “Motion film” was the reply each time. From the start of our journey at a shipwreck, to discovering a misplaced island filled with dinosaurs, to combating pirates geared up with state-of-the-art tech, and even breaking right into a secret lab in disguise, the theme was shining by.
Talking of the lab infiltration, it was a really quick marketing campaign mission, which is a stark departure from the standard Guild Wars 2 providing. Usually, marketing campaign missions are lengthy and infrequently have a prolonged stroll from encounter to come across as characters present exposition and context. This was maybe the largest gripe of the playerbase throughout Janthir Wilds, which had extra conversations than fight. Personally, I didn’t thoughts the slower tempo, however I’m not against a breakneck marketing campaign both.
Facet Tales are additionally an essential characteristic in Visions of Eternity, targeted on delivering shorter tales and interconnected tidbits by achievements and exploration. There are additionally new Masteries coming with Visions of Eternity, however to maintain my expertise considerably novel when the growth launches, I made a decision to not dive too deeply. The brand new Wavehawk (a.okay.a Skimmer) talents are part of the brand new Mastery system.
The rewards for exploration are Legendary
Identical to each different growth earlier than it, Visions of Eternity is bringing a complete suite of latest weapons and armour to gather and use within the wilds of Castora. And for the primary time, the brand new Elite Specializations are bringing new and distinctive armour items as Specialization mastery rewards. This can be a welcome change from earlier expansions, which gave Ascended weapons as rewards for finishing the Specialization collections.
The largest prize for Visions of Eternity gamers is the brand new Legendary Aquabreather, named Selachimorpha. The primary Legendary merchandise of this class, Selachimorpha makes shark fins develop out of your again underwater and makes small fish observe you round. The one draw back is that there isn’t a major deal with underwater fight right here, regardless of the theme, so Selachimorpha’s results might be restricted. There are additionally different Legendaries to be acquired in Visions of Eternity, primarily 3 weapons, a hoop, and an adjunct, however we weren’t proven these.
Visions of Eternity is a totally new horizon for Guild Wars 2, as it’s a actually uncharted territory for the franchise, with fully new lore and options. It’s providing a brand new storyline, new interactions between the varied Tyrian races, and the potential to recruit new allies and threats which have advanced with out the affect of the Elder Dragons and the Mists. I, for one, am completely happy to play extra Guild Wars 2 always, so this can be a good time for me.
Guild Wars 2 Visions of Eternity launches on October 28.
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Edited by Arnab Chakrabarti
