GW2 Second Expansion Not Announced! Release Date Not Revealed! Spoilers!

As we wait for the penultimate chapter of Living Story 4 to drop I have a short but welcome window to mention the upcoming GW2 expansion. There's going to be one. There, that's that done.

Oh, except, wait! What's this, coming over the hill?  It's the First Reddit Spoiler Division and they're waving screenshots! We're saved!

Everything from this point on is spoilertastic so if you feel ANet have been doing a bang-up job keeping the lid on and the very last thing you want to know is freakin' anything at all then now's the time to look away.

Shame about the screenshot at the top of the page but oh, well...

For anyone that thinks MMO expansions become more interesting when you have some vague idea what's in them, here we go.

All the dirty pictures are at this Imgur link.  

Massively OP summarized it thus:

The huge batch of images appear to show a partial set of new masteries for most of the classes, maps covering a large span of the Crystal Desert from Guild Wars 1 (including Vabbi and the Desolation, so we’re in Nightfall territory), and mounts. 

So, the second expansion includes some new overland maps, some new Masteries and more class specializations. Who would have guessed? Everyone, probably.

Mounts, though...that's a bit of a surprise, given that ANet have always said they'd have nothing to do with anything so common, dahling. I paraphrase.

Actually, there were already rumors about mounts making an appearance when we go to Crystal Desert in the next Xpack. The theory was that they would be limited to specific routes or areas and wouldn't make their way into the wider world the way gliders did.

This is the mount some think prove the leak is a hoax.
But it's a jerboa, I think, which would be entirely in keeping with the desert theme.

Those pics, though. And the associated skills. I'm thinking it's all a bit elaborate just for a bit of on rails travel in four or five new maps. Plus think of the potential Gem Shop sales...

MMOs tend to have excitable communities but GW2's is positively hysterical. Mounts have long been a hot-button topic (cf cloaks) with vehement defenders and opponents, all of whom seem to think that having your character's eye line raised by a couple of meters can either save or grave a game.

The dormant forum threadnought revived on this latest news and battle positions are being taken as we speak. Personally I'm one hundred per cent in favor of mounts. I find the arguments against them spurious, hilarious or incomprehensible.

One commenter found the prospect of not using his own legs so unmitigatedly revolting he confessed to "having a visceral response. I am disgusted. I actually feel vaguely nauseous". I'd make a crack only I know how that goes. I've had the same reaction a few times over changes in MMOs that turned out to be utterly trivial. As he goes on to observe, astutely, "I’m not even sure why I feel so strongly about it, but I can’t deny that I do." I hear that.

Mounts might not be universally welcome but big maps that aren't jungles? Those aren't going to get too many down-votes, I bet. Because the leaked images feature an overhead of the existing map of Tyria we can judge the size of the new playable areas and they are huge.

It's impossible to tell for sure just by looking at the schematics but I get the impression that we're done with verticality for a while. This is a desert and it looks flat. I wouldn't be surprised to find that gliders don't even work there, although really all they need to do is not put any updrafts in...

As for the new specializations, they look very interesting. Unlike Ashes of Creation's "Tank", they all have super-cool names like Renegade and Spellbreaker. My favorite has to be Holosmith. I think I have a CD by them somewhere.

It might all be one giant hoax but frankly, if anyone's gone to that much trouble, they deserve a good laugh at our expense. It all looks entirely legit to me and I'm going to go with it.

Official announcement and release date please, Mr O'Brien. You can have my money now for delivery in the autumn. Or late summer? Late summer works for me.

Orr Is A Bore: GW2

Azuriel over at In An Age has been doing due diligence and taking another run at GW2. I think it's fair to say he's not enjoying it much more than he did the first time. Which is absolutely fine. Everyone doesn't have to like everything and what a dull world it would be if we were all the same, wouldn't it, my little one? Lawks-a-mussy!

Ahem...getting back to the point, Azuriel alludes to something mentioned by several people (I was one) in his comments section: "a lot of people are suggesting that the zones/enemies/storylines get dumber the farther South you go". Which puts a finger neatly on one of Guild Wars 2's real problems: Orr.

I vaguely remember reading about Orr before launch. How it was where all the promise of the Dynamic Event system would bear fruit, how it was GW2's equivalent of raiding, how it was going to be a step-change from the rest of the game, which was really only there to prepare you for Orr. Yadda yadda and indeed yadda.


There's a good discussion at GW2Guru which goes over most of what's wrong with Orr in some detail. The thread's called "I Hate Orr" but there are posters there who don't and make a fair case. Everyone, different, see above.

I don't hate Orr but I dislike it enough that I've been there just twice. I'd say that having three large maps at launch, which quite few people visit once or twice and cross off their list of "Places I'd Like To See Again" is a fundamental problem.

Issues that I have with Orr from just those couple of quick visits include:

• It's frickin' ugly, especially the lighting and color scheme.
• It's chock-full of the same mobs over and over and over again.
• Mob density is overcooked.
• There's far too much of it.

To sum up, it's laborious, unattractive and somewhat dull. It's not, as has been claimed, particularly hard or testing. I didn't find it significantly slower to open up than any other map, nor did I die any more often. It's just not very entertaining.

I didn't stay long enough to confirm whether the other big complaint is true, namely that for such a supposedly important area, nothing much that matters happens there. I also have sufficient concern for my blood-pressure not even to have attempted the underwater parts which by most accounts are truly awful.

Orr wasn't all bad. The undead chickens made me laugh out loud. The way the dead Zhaitan raised carry on their now meaningless lives is mildly affecting. I may even go back for another look, some day, although it's a long way to go just to laugh at a chicken. As an aspirational set of end-of-game zones, though? I don't think so.

Since I'm not there I can't estimate from experience how well-used Orr is. Is it busy down south? Let's hope not, because if and when we get new maps it's going to be a disappointment if ArenaNet attempt to emulate or even outdo Orr in "difficulty" and "challenge".

There's been no word that I've seen on what part of the map might open next, but my money's on Crystal Desert. In Ebonhawke the guards at the Southern Gate are already fielding questions from interested adventurers:

Let's just hope that when that gate does open there's something more interesting behind it than a barren wasteland filled with mindless husks.

Coming Next: How It Should Be Done or "North with the Charr!"