ArenaNet has announced big changes for Guild Wars 2 in 2023. The studio will be taking a more player-centric approach, delivering content updates in a more timely and consistent manner, and providing better support for the game’s various systems and modes.
The first step toward accomplishing these goals was to rebalance how development resources are allocated across the project. Rather than launching an expansion every two to four years with a season of Living World in between, the studio will be releasing smaller expansions more frequently at a slightly reduced price and adding additional content for those expansions through quarterly updates.
The first release in an expansion cycle is the launch point for a new story arc, bringing with it two new open-world maps, two Strike Missions, new gameplay and combat features, new Masteries, and new rewards. In the following quarterly updates, the studio will add another open-world map, additional story chapters, challenge modes for the Strike Missions, a new fractal dungeon and challenge mode, new rewards, and additions to the new systems introduced in that expansion.
The spring roadmap includes a new chapter of Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, a Soo-Won legendary weapon skin variant collection, two profession balance updates, a new fractal dungeon and challenge mode, and multiple updates for World vs. World. The studio will also finish rolling out the DirectX11 and Chromium Embedded Framework upgrades and run usual festival and bonus events.