First Impressions: GUILD WARS 2: JANTHIR WILDS is a Breath of Fresh Air

A few weeks ago, ArenaNet released the latest expansion for Guild Wars 2 titled Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds. This is the second expansion to release on the new annual model where there’s a big chunk released up front with quarterly updates adding more content.

The studio says that they learned a lot from Secrets of the Obscure, but what’s that looking like in practice? A big thank you to the team who provided me with a code for this first impression of one of my favorite games, but all thoughts below are my own.

Bristling with mursaat ruins and harrowing to navigate, the fabled Isles of Janthir have been carefully guarded by the wizards of the Astral Ward—and to most of Tyria’s denizens, they are a distant legend.

But recent events have inspired the world’s leaders to create a Tyrian Alliance and dispatch the wayfinder to befriend new allies. As you seek out the lowland kodan colony in Janthir, you will explore, fight, and learn more about the mysteries of Tyria’s past.

I’m not going to lie, I’m really loving Janthir Wilds so far. I want to talk about a few areas as to why I like it, but before we do I want to address concerns that I have.

As of writing this first impressions piece, there still seem to be some random glitches here and there. For instance, during one of the last story missions, you are teamed up with about three NPCs in an instance and you have to complete a small objective at five points.

\For some reason, one of the NPCs who was supposed to have a conversation with another NPC stayed at a previous point which meant I was met with silence for a bit until I realized what was happening and started spinning around to find the NPC so that I could actually hear their parts of the dialogue.

I’m sure the team is still ironing out little bugs like this though and I’m not holding this against them. It’s just something to keep in mind as you play.

Another part of Janthir Wilds that I’m not in love with are the beehives. From what I can tell they are Adrenal Mushrooms and are really only useful to reset cooldowns on mount skills while trying to move across maps.

Honestly, I just don’t understand why there are two types (empowered and bloodstone-empowered) and therefore the fact that two masteries are used to cover them feels lame.

Maybe I’m missing something about the bloodstone-empowered beehives? I also just haven’t found these helpful, but I know some people have so I’m not writing them off completely.

Of course, my biggest complaint has to do with a problem I’ve had since End of Dragons. I HATE RESEARCH NOTES! They’re one of, if not the number one, worst currency in Guild Wars 2.

It’s annoying to accrue these. I understand they’re meant to be a material sink to benefit the game, but it just does not feel good. I also saw someone complain about how thematically it doesn’t even match which I can understand, but I don’t mind that part as much.

I just wish that we could do away with Research Notes in general. I don’t like that even in Janthir Wilds I will have to gather this tedious currency for certain items/achievements.

I’m a big fan of a lot that Janthir Wilds has to offer though. While I do not particularly care about it, I know many people have been excited for the Homestead feature and they seem to be really enjoying it. I also like how they gave us a new weapon type.

Spears on land was not my first pick and I haven’t played around with it too much, but some people appear to really like them. Making it easier to get the Warclaw without WvW is HUGE for people who don’t care for WvW!

I don’t want to provide spoilers for the story, but I am enjoying it. I am slightly worried that it’s just going to repeat Secrets of the Obscure and most of the other story content where there’s a new big bad so you have to gather an army and then it ends up just being you and a few NPCs that end up actually doing anything. That formula is feeling stale for me personally. That said, the more personal moments and connections have been really nice so far.

As for the land of Janthir, it feels so good after Secrets of the Obscure. I found Nayos in particular to be really bland and boring and Skywatch Archipelago felt too big after a while.

Janthir is much smaller which really helps for getting to events, but it also feels more interesting to traverse. There are plenty of areas where the Warclaw actually feels like a good mount to use and nothing has felt like a chore in my exploration.

An interesting aspect connected to exploration is the way that Renown Hearts are handled in Janthir. You can complete them once per day and the more you complete them, it’ll rank up and you can access more rewards from the NPCs. It’s definitely an interesting rework and while I’m not crazy about it, I think it’s actually nice to encourage engagement.

So far, I’m loving Janthir Wilds and from what I’m seeing, others are too. I am enjoying the story and really hope that the team doesn't fall back on the same old formula.

After how disappointing Nayos ended up being, Janthir feels like a breath of fresh air and I hope the team is able to keep that momentum going. At the moment, I would say that Janthir Wilds is worth grabbing for fans of Guild Wars 2.