Evil never sleeps and no matter what the Inquest is planning in Guild Wars 2.
Although I received a press preview and access to the development server for the latest chapter in the ongoing story, I have done my best to avoid story spoilers, as these are best experienced on live servers – both for myself and for you. Ainda, there’s a lot to discuss and experience as the update goes live at this time.
The Only Way continues the story that began with the release of Visions of Eternity. Leading up to this chapter, it becomes clear that ArenaNet is trying to hide the true intentions of its key players: both the Inquest leader Vloxx, who is probably not as evil as his associates, and the wizard Isgarren, who is not as loyal an ally as he should be.
The small portion of the story I experienced continued your character’s journey through the wild places of the mysterious island of Castora, discovering more ancient ruins by seekers in the jungle. The Inquest is still looking for something and it’s up to us to stop them. At least that’s how it starts, but don’t be too surprised when the tables turn between heroes and villains. Even Canach does a little soul-searching to give you an idea of how much the characters play against type.
A slouching Isgarren, he with typical near-limitless strength, looked about as awake as I do before drinking my morning coffee. This time he’s taking things seriously, or at least serious enough to warrant real sacrifice. A voice he heard saying, “Our job is more important than me,” during the story chapter underscored the seriousness of the situation, even if the Party occasionally had to take the time to let him rest. As you can see from one of the trailers, he might finally be ready to reveal some important secrets; Let’s hope they don’t get issued past its expiration date.
The Guardians of the Garden
Experienced players will only need a few hours to complete the story. But what about the rest of the new content?
The zone is called Eternity’s Garden and was described by the developers as “an exploration of an old place that’s new to us.” The atmosphere is similar to Starlit Weald, with lots and lots of jungle, interspersed with old Seers and newer Inquest activity, but with a few huge facilities that make it abundantly clear that you have bigger problems to contend with than a few pocket raptors.
The biggest problem of all lies in the Seer’s Forge. In previous zones we fought two of Castora’s great guardians: Kela, Seneschal of the Waves in Shipwreck Strand, and Gwyllian, Seneschal of the Forest in Starlit Weald. The investigative commission tried to control these two, but failed. Now we have to face the third Guardian of this kind, the All-Seer, in the Shackes of the Ancients meta-event.
On the bright side, we will have a little help with this. We can befriend seer constructs who hate the Inquest as much as we do for its intrusion. With their help we can take the Forge from the Inquest and repair it to get the energy flowing. Then there is a long, multi-phase battle with the All-Seer, which is on par with the last battles against the previous Guardians.
Finds of the wayfinder
This update brings two new Legendary accessories, one each specifically for PvE and WvW gameplay. The PvE accessory is called Stellar Radiance and can be earned entirely through PvE gameplay – no WvW required!
No entanto, if you’re up for some WvW action, Strife Unending looks like a great addition to your arsenal. The developers didn’t want to add more visual clutter to WvW, as there’s already enough of that so the only basic effect is a light blue glow on the hands. The more kills you rack up in WvW, the more impressive effects you’ll receive when you unsheathe your weapons, worth up to five levels. Siege weapons’ projectile paths also glow, so you’ll always know when you’re about to be torn apart by someone with the fancy equipment.
If you’re not quite up for the legendary grind, you can still score some nice loot, including the Ward Hunter Armor Set and the Gwyl Monarch Weapon Set. The latter has a butterfly wing/stained glass look that will certainly appeal to people who like that aesthetic. Inferno, I’m not even crazy about it, but I’m still going to try to find a way to put it on one of my characters because it looks so good.
Other rewards you can earn either through content or the new offerings in the Wizard’s Vault include the /flex emote, a Strike Dagger skin, an Otter Ranger pet, and the Swiftwing Raptor mount skin. Other mastery skills in the Castoran Survivalist tree include Combat Maneuvers, which allow you to interact with invisibility-granting supplies during combat, and Lucky Shield, which restores all health when activated. The new wardrobe system, which received some criticism when it was introduced in February, will also be given a new coat of paint to address player complaints.
Even though it’s been a while since Visions of Eternity was released – about six and a half months – the GW2 development team says it was time well spent. “We try to make the releases feel like part of a whole rather than individual chapters,” said Matthew Medina, Lead Narrative Designer. “We’re trying to get away from ‘The story consists of X amounts of content’.” The goal is to play everything.”
There are plans to launch another major update before the end of the year, which could throw a wrench into the “annual expansion” model that Guild Wars 2 has adopted over the past few years. Hopefully this means that the revenue from the expansions was good enough to provide some breathing room and more space between the free updates. As lead world designer Nick Hernandez put it, they want to “make sure we have enough development time.” That’s a luxury some developers can’t afford, and I’m all for it if it results in better overall quality.