It feels like it hasn’t even been a year since Guild Wars 2 released its last expansion… oh wait, that was it! Love it or hate it, ArenaNet is keeping its promise of releasing a new expansion every year with the upcoming release of Janthir WildernessThis expansion takes us to the far north of Tyria, to the islands of Janthir, home of the grizzly bear-like lowland kodan.
ArenaNet recently invited us to tour this expansion’s beautiful new zones, bouncy new mount, and exciting new player housing!
We started our tour with a taste of history. It took me a while to warm up to Secrets of the Obscure other direction, I was drawn much faster into Janthir Wilds’ Story. SOTO introduced an almost entirely new cast of characters (except for Zojja, who we hadn’t seen in years); in contrast Janthir Wilderness brings us back to more familiar and popular characters like Caithe and Countess Anise and other well-known members of the newly formed Tyrian Alliance, and although we never set foot on the Isles of Janthir in either game, Guild Wars game, it’s a place that’s been talked about a lot, so it feels much more connected to the rest of the world and lore. Being whisked away to the Wizard’s Tower and Nayos for a single expansion was a nice change of pace, but more would have been too much, so good job ArenaNet story team for choosing something more grounded.
If you are a fan of the Wizard’s Court, founded in SOTOfear not, we will take them with us into the wide world of Tyria. The numerous Kryptis invasions around the world have been difficult to cover up, and that’s why Isgarren has decided to bring the shady organization out of hiding. It feels like a good continuation of last year’s story, and I can’t wait to see how our old friends interact with our new friends!
One of the key features of this expansion is the Warclaw reworked for PvE. I was skeptical at first, as the Warclaw is basically just a worse raptor that happens to work in WvW, but in practice the new Warclaw is a lot of fun to ride. In some ways it feels like the three terrestrial mounts combined into one. When you jump, it goes up (but not as far as a knight) and also forward (but not as far as a raptor), and its energy bar is divided into three smaller parts, and it can jump in the air (like the jackal).
The final mastery level of the Warclaw increases energy regeneration by 20% for all mountsand with that buff and Bond of Vigor, the Warclaw can actually make multiple jumps for quite a distance without touching the ground. Admittedly, it looks a little silly – the Commander/Wayfinder, countless times savior of the world, slayer of all six Elder Dragons, and champion of Aurene, astride a giant cat leaping through the sky – but it’s so much fun to use that I’m OK with it. And hey, there are sillier things in this game.
Another nice feature of the Warclaw is that it doesn’t take fall damage when you first master it. Fall damage hasn’t been a big issue for a while now, as there are gliders, two flying mounts, and terrestrial mounts that will just throw you off for a moment when they fall from a great height, so it just makes sense.
The Warclaw also follows in the footsteps (clawsteps?) of the Skyscale by adding some low-damage abilities that you don’t drop, aside from the standard attack skill. Like the Skyscale’s Fireball, you won’t be taking down bosses with it while riding it, but it’s good for situations where you want to nudge something while moving.
Whenever a new mount is introduced, a question arises: why would I use this one when I already have all the existing mounts? Or, even worse, does it make one of the previous mounts obsolete? The answer to both questions is that it depends on you. Of course, there won’t be anything (aside from made-up events and adventures) that this mount can do that Skyscale and Raptor can’t. But if you’re one of those weirdos who doesn’t like Skyscale, the Warclaw’s numerous air jumps will let you reach many of the same places in the air without having to flap around, and I’d imagine many of those people will never use their lizard friend again.
Now let’s move on to the feature that has been getting the most buzz: Homesteading, the new player housing system. We no longer have to listen to endless debates about whether home instances or guild halls count as housing. We can now all agree on this: Guild Wars 2 definitely has living space, and it is Good.
Hearth’s Glow, the Homestead instance, has a pre-built house in the middle, but plenty of land around it to build your own. The zone is about the size of a guild hall; the developers compared it to End of the Dragons Island of reflection.
Furniture can be placed anywhere freely, and the placement tools are similar to those in a 3D modeling program. Arrows allow you to move the furniture along three axes, rotate it around three axes, and scale it up and down. If you have a lot of living space in CRACK or Wildstar You’ll feel right at home here. The furnishings can defy gravity or protrude through solid objects, so creative players will no doubt come up with all sorts of clever tricks.
One of those tricks the team showed us was a character sitting on a log next to a campfire. There is no log to sit on in the game, but there is a stool to sit on. This can be hidden right under the log to make it look like the player is sitting on it. It’s a simple and very old trick, but I’m glad the system offers this flexibility.
My favorite placement feature was Bee Mode, which allows the player to transform into a giant bee (bees are kind of the bear people thing in this expansion) and float around, much like the Jade Bot, allowing you to get high without having to build an awkward scaffold for your character to stand on.
One mount of each type can be shown off in the mount stable and you can show them around or even give your hard-working mounts some well-deserved cuddles. Another fun twist is that all of your alts that you log off in your house will show up for the character you’re currently playing, so you can finally organize that group photo with your entire squad without having to resort to Photoshop!
I’ve heard some grumbling online about some of Homesteading’s features being tied to certain mastery levels, but I don’t think that’s going to be such a bad thing. First off, the house itself is unlocked naturally through the story, no grinding required. To unlock the new artisan workshop and starter recipes, you’ll need to fill the XP bar once and spend one point. Each level in Homesteading mastery from then on unlocks additional recipes. Most crafted furniture is tradable, though, so if you want to outfit your abode without the work of leveling, your friends at the Black Lion Trading Company have you covered.
Each mastery level also increases your house’s rest bonus, similar to what you get when you log out of Arborstone or the Wizard’s Tower. The designers pointed out that at the highest level, this is actually the highest rest XP buff available in the game.
Good news: any gathering nodes you’ve unlocked for your home instance – both those from the cash shop and those from various in-game unlocks – will follow you to your new homestead! Unfortunately, unless I’ve missed something, it doesn’t look like any of them are relocatable. On one hand, that’s frustrating because it would be cool to have them blend into the landscape a bit more naturally, but on the other hand, there’s no pressure to build an ugly but efficient gathering area, and if you’re visiting a friend’s homestead, you don’t have to search for where they keep their nodes.
I asked if there were plans for any more homesteads beyond the one we were shown. The developers were noncommittal, saying that they aren’t “talking about it” at the moment, but that the system is designed to make it possible. Take that as you will.
The test accounts we received were packed with every possible furnishing imaginable and I was impressed by the variety of options available. Of course, I had to test the limits of the system first, so I built this huge ramp to the top of the mountain out of wall pieces and lo and behold, it actually worked!
If GW2 doesn’t win the Massively OP Best MMO Housing Award this year, then the vote is rigged.
My time at the preview of Janthir wilderness makes me really excited to play the real thing! The story is interesting, the new mount is fun – while it’s not essential, more options are always good – and the housing system is something I could easily lose many, many hours in. I haven’t even mentioned here the new meta events we’ve seen that seem fun, and the new spear skills that seem to add a fun twist to some builds. There’s a lot packed into this expansion, and I can’t wait to play it with everyone in just a week, on August 20th!
Flameseeker Chronicles is one of Massively OP’s longest-running columns, and has been covering the Guild Wars franchise since Guild Wars 2 came along. Now written by Tina Lauro and Colin Henry, it appears on Tuesdays to cover everything from GW2 guides and news to opinion pieces and dev diary roundups. If there’s a GW2 topic you’d like to see covered, leave a comment!
