First Impressions: GUILD WARS 2: VISIONS OF ETERNITY Sets Sail with a Strong Start
A sylvari rangers sits upon a jellyfish-like Skimmer on top of a peak overlooking a coastal region of Castora in Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity.
At the end of October, ArenaNet released the sixth expansion for Guild Wars 2 titled Visions of Eternity. This is the third expansion under the new release model where a new expansion is released every year over the course of quarterly updates. Visions of Eternity has a lot of incredible things that were promised to us and a fair amount came with the initial launch.
I’m going to discuss my thoughts about what has been released and what I hope happens in future updates below. ArenaNet did provide me with a code so that I could play through Visions of Eternity, but all thoughts below are my own. You can purchase Visions of Eternity now for $24.99!
The story of Visions of Eternity begins with rumors of an island fabled by the seafarers of Tyria, rich with magic and ley energy.
Word arrives to the Tyrian Alliance that the Inquest, a conniving krewe of asuran technology researchers, has been in search of that island, Castora—and when the Inquest start sneaking around, it spells danger for the rest of Tyria.
Together with those allies willing to brave a voyage into the unknown, the Commander sets off in the hopes of discovering what the Inquest's goals are—and stopping them before it’s too late.
Going forward in this discussion piece, I will divide my thoughts into two sections. The first will look at the story aspect of Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity (I’ll do my best to not spoil anything) while the second section will be more about discussing the new features.
The story for Visions of Eternity so far is really good. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have much excitement going into the new story. The Inquest has always just felt like little goons and not actual threats throughout the last 12-ish years of Guild Wars 2 and I’ve been a little disappointed in the overall storytelling in the last couple of expansions. Heck, even as I started Visions of Eternity, I wasn’t immediately hooked. This was maybe impacted by the fact that the expansion was released during the Halloween season event, Mad King’s Labyrinth (MKL). I really wish the team had waited one additional week so that we could have finished MKL without feeling like we were giving up on playing the shiny new expansion. Just a thought for next year.
After a couple of story beats though, it started to pick up and it sunk its teeth into me. As you progress in the story, the layers start to peel back though. Relationships and trust in characters are brought into question. To some degree, the philosophies of characters are brought to examination. We even get to learn a great deal more about a companion’s history. The thing that really hooked me though was one of the characters not in your party. The moral ambiguity that they play at is a storytelling element that really fascinates me.
I do have concerns with the story though. I freaking loved the opening of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure. In my opinion, that was the best opening of these latest expansions. It immediately set a mood, made you concerned about the stakes, and left you wanting more. Sadly, as the story continued, it got worse and more generic and bland. Then, in Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, the story wasn’t bad, but it never really got me hyped. There were nice moments throughout and fun details like bringing Livia back and exploring the story of Mabon, but I was never blown away by any of it. Now, in Visions of Eternity, we have another strong start to the story and I’m praying that they stick the landing. I’m attempting to be cautiously optimistic.
Visions of Eternity has a lot more to offer Guild Wars 2 players than just a new and exciting story though. Like other expansions, we got two brand new maps with two additional maps coming in later updates. The maps are fun and exciting to explore. I especially enjoy Shipwreck Strand with the hidden grottos, canopy villages, and more. It feels very dynamic and explorable without being as convoluted as Heart of Thorns maps.
Additionally, the Skimmer has gotten a rework. Admittedly, I’m in the camp that thinks maybe the Springer should have gotten the love here, but I do agree that thematically the Skimmer fits better. Hopefully, the Springer can get a rework that makes it usable post Skyscale with the next expansion. The Skimmer now has little blasters and can pseudo-fly. Honestly, the number one benefit to me is that I actually use the ‘1’ skill now since it doesn’t automatically dismount me.
There’s also a new Homestead for fans of that aspect of the game. What makes this even cooler is that all the buildings in the base new Homestead can be completely deconstructed. If you don’t want the standard ship on your Homestead, you can remove it! This is a nice change from the Janthir Wilds Homestead, and the introduction of Homestead Layouts is going to be massive for anyone who wants to decorate for different holidays, seasons, etc. Speaking as someone who doesn’t really do anything with their Homestead, I will say that there’s a big problem with the Castoran Homestead: the placement of nodes. I really only interact with a Homestead when I can go to someone’s and farm their nodes. The new Homestead is awful for this unless you are the Homestead owner. The nodes are scattered so much more and the ore nodes are much harder to access than before. I get bummed out when I go to farm a Homestead and it’s the new one because it’s so inefficient and annoying to farm, but then I feel bad because it’s a cool Homestead and people should be able to go with what they like. They didn’t have to make farming the new Homestead such a pain is all I’m saying.
There was also some new legendary gear that came at launch including the first legendary aquabreather (huzzah!) and the Aetheric Anchor which will give you both the legendary spear Ancora Bellum and the legendary staff Ancora Pax (what a bargain!). Maybe with any luck aquatic combat will get some love now? I wouldn’t be too surprised if the other legendary weapon coming later was a harpoon gun or trident. Oh, we’re also getting another legendary ring and legendary accessory coming in a later update.
Other upcoming new items include new raids and group content although we don’t really know much about that. We do know that with the first update, which should be launching around February, Strike Missions and Raids are being combined and we’re going to get a quickplay mode. I know that we all have questions about how the quickplay mode is going to work for Raids, so we’ll just have to wait on that information.
Finally, we have the return of elite specializations. I’m a Ranger main and have only played around with the Galeshot. It’s okay, but I do have thoughts about it. For the Galeshot, I don’t hate it, but it feels like the team thought, “Rangers don’t really use the bows very often. Instead of changing what the current bows do, let’s give them a third bow option and make sure that now they only want to use ranged weapons instead of always using melee weapons like they’ve been doing with Soulbeast and Untamed.” I really wish that they had adjusted skills on the Longbow instead and done something else as the big gimmick of Galeshot instead of just giving them a third bow. I don’t even mind the utility skills, design concept, or any of that. I just don’t want to manage three weapons plus the pets on my Ranger.
I haven’t played any of the other new elite specializations, but I feel like most of these elite specializations are landing well. I do agree with criticisms towards the Antiquary in terms of flavor and design (not necessarily implementation). It really feels like they originally wanted to do some kind of gambler class, but then threw an Indiana Jones skin on top and it just doesn’t vibe well. Sadly, they didn’t rework any of this aspect regarding the Antiquary before launch and so we’re probably stuck with it now.
I will say that the new elite specialization that I’m most excited to try next though is Ritualist for Necromancer. I’ve always been a fan of minion builds and while the spirits are not actual minions, it’s pretty close if you squint. It’s kind of like if you combine minions with turrets. Right?
By the way, if you disagree with my points about the elite specializations, let me know in the comments. Especially if you love Galeshot or Antiquary. I’d love to hear what you like about them (or any of the new elite specializations) and hopefully give myself a new perspective and potentially the will to give them all a shot with my newb hands (I love this game, but am not great at cranking out numbers).
One final note. I’d be remiss if I did not mention how incredible the soundtrack is. On the character select screen, the music felt so cinematic it was something akin to John Williams or Williams Henry Goldsmith. The music in game isn’t that grand per se, but it is really incredible and I found myself turning the volume up in game and doing a lot less second screen noise.
Overall, ArenaNet has done a fantastic job with Visions of Eternity. So far, this expansion launch might be the best in my opinion overall. I still prefer the start of the story for Secrets of the Obscure, but I think I like the maps and overall flow of Visions of Eternity more. Hopefully, the content updates keep the momentum going in a positive direction and things can finish strong. So far, this is a winner, but we won’t know for sure until next year. What’s your favorite part about Visions of Eternity so far?