GUILD WARS 2: SECRETS OF THE OBSCURE Launches This August!

The fourth expansion for one of my favorite games, Guild Wars 2, has been announced. ArenaNet and NCSOFT recently announced Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure! This expansion for the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) looks absolutely incredible and comes with tons of huge changes for the future of the game. Secrets of the Obscure will launch on August 22 (less than 2 months away!) and pre-orders are live now for both the standalone client and through Steam starting at $24.99.

In Secrets of the Obscure, players will encounter a new demonic threat called the Kryptis. We’ll have to climb through the Skywatch Archipelago to take the fight to the Demon Realm. I’m so freaking excited for this! The trailer looks dope and all the changes (discussed below) have me so freaking excited!

The all-new story puts players into the shoes of both erstwhile defender and explorer of the unknown as they race to defend the world from a heretofore unseen threat. The adventure will begin with a climb through the Skywatch Archipelago, the first of two new maps being added to the game on release day. Hanging high in the sky above Tyria, these floating islands are under attack from the Kryptis, a demonic race of malevolent beings streaming through instabilities in the Mists and threatening the fragile peace of the world in the wake of the defeat of the elder dragons. What follows is an epic struggle into the Demon Realm, where the fate of the world rests in the hands of the player and their secretive new allies.

Talking about Secrets of the Obscure, Game Director Josh Davis said:

Finally revealing the secrets of the Wizard’s Tower has been an idea floating around the studio (pun intended) for many years. With Secrets of the Obscure, we’re getting a chance to explore Tyria’s lore in a way we never have been able to before. New areas of the world, new characters and enemies, and new twists to the core combat gameplay should excite fans with how they are going to add to the game’s already legendary amount of content.

At launch, Guild Wars 2 players will find 2 new explorable maps (Skywatch Archipelago and Amnytas), a new hub area at the Wizard’s Tower, the introduction of the Astral Ward, a more streamlined manner to unlock the Skyscale mount, 2 new Strike Missions, the introduction of Relics, Weaponmaster Training, and much more. In later releases, each class will get access to new weapons, challenge mode for the aforementioned Strike Missions, legendary armor obtainable through open world content, and more.

• New maps: Two new explorable maps will be available on August 22, the Skywatch Archipelago and Amnytas, with a third to follow in a future update.

• New hub area: The enigmatic Wizard’s Tower will serve as the jumping-off point for players to explore Secrets of the Obscure, and be the central location that ties the player to the main characters and events of the expansion

• Astral Ward: As the Kryptis invade Tyria, players will be able to join a band of treasure hunters and adventurers known as the Astral Ward to help protect the world, undertaking monster hunts and bounty contracts throughout the game to rank up and earn new rewards and abilities.

• The Heart of the Obscure: this important tool will serve as the player’s master key to explore the new expansion; as they make progress in upgrading this mystical stone, they’ll earn the ability to open special doors and reward chests, create support items like leyline and updraft generators, and open and seal the rifts for the Astral Ward.

• Advanced Flight Masteries: Acquiring the fan favorite Skyscale mount will be easier in Secrets of the Obscure, but for those players who train their Skyscale in both the new track from this expansion and the previously released Path of Fire will earn additional functionality for their skyscale. Two of the Secrets of the Obscure skyscale masteries - in-combat mounting and updraft use - will also apply to the griffon mount.

• New Strike Missions: Two new challenging 10-player instanced encounters arrive with Secrets of the Obscure: the Cosmic Observatory, and the Temple of Febe. Their Challenge Modes are planned to become available in later releases.

• Wizard’s Vault: The Wizard's Vault awards Astral Acclaim for completing daily, weekly, and seasonal achievements across the game. Players can trade Astral Acclaim for unique items like armor pieces, weapon and mount skins, gold, legendary crafting materials, and more.

• Relics: unlocked at level 60, this new equipment slot will now be the home of the wide variety of rune set bonuses previously found on different rune types, allowing for more customization of special effects and more freedom to choose the stat bonuses players want to use on their characters.

• Weaponmaster Training: each of the game’s nine professions will now gain the ability to equip the weapons previously reserved for their elite specialization, unlocking new gameplay and build options for players.

• New Rewards: A deluge of new earnable rewards await players, including the game’s first set of legendary armor earned through open world PvE activities.

So, with Weaponmaster Training, you’ll be able to use weapons previously reserved for elite specializations without being locked into said elite specialization. For example, a Soulbeast could use a staff or a core Necromancer can now use a greatsword. This is very exciting as it opens up a staggering number of gameplay options for players. It’s also important to note that once you unlock Weaponmaster Training, you don’t even need to unlock an elite specialization to gain access to its weapon nor own the expansion that the elite specialization is a part of. Theorycrafters are going to go insane! Here’s a quick list of what this unlocks for each class:

• Guardian: Axe (main hand), sword (off hand), longbow

• Revenant: Shield (off hand), greatsword, short bow

• Warrior: Dagger (main and off hand), pistol (off hand), torch (off hand)

• Engineer: Mace (main hand), sword (main hand), hammer

• Ranger: Dagger (main hand), hammer, staff

• Thief: Scepter (main hand), rifle, staff

• Elementalist: Sword (main hand), warhorn (off hand), hammer

• Mesmer: Axe (main hand), dagger (main hand), shield (off hand)

• Necromancer: Pistol (main hand), torch (off hand), greatsword

While the new weapons are a ways out, ArenaNet has announced what they will be. More details are on the way, but here’s the list of new weapons coming to each class in Secrets of the Obscure:

• Guardian: Pistol (main and off hand)

• Revenant: Scepter (main hand)

• Warrior: Staff

• Engineer: Short bow

• Ranger: Mace (main and off hand)

• Thief: Axe (main hand)

• Elementalist: Pistol (main hand)

• Mesmer: Rifle

• Necromancer: Sword (main and off hand)

The final in-depth item that I wanted to cover is the introduction of Relics. Runes will be changing to no longer provide a special ability/effect with the full set of 6. Instead, runes will only provide the stat bonuses while the abilities will become a new equipment item called Relics. The example provided by the team is that the Relic of the Trooper will have the effect for removing conditions instead of the Trooper rune set providing that bonus. Relics will typically be obtainable via crafting, instanced content (Fractals, Strike Missions), reward tracks, achievements, and more. All Guild Wars 2 players will get a free Relic when Secrets of the Obscure launches this August.

There are so many updates that it’s a little hard to cover it all. I recommend checking out the articles on the official Guild Wars 2 site if you want more details on the story, combat, and rewards/system changes. I would also recommend checking out Mukluk’s breakdown video as he goes over everything! I cannot wait for August 22!