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Guild Wars 2 New Expansion "Visions of Eternity" Launching October 28

GFreeman

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Today developer ArenaNet announced Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, the sixth expansion for the award-winning and critically acclaimed MMORPG Guild Wars 2. Releasing on October 28, 2025, Visions of Eternity will offer a suite of new content and features for established and new players alike, including a new Homestead plot, new and upgraded abilities for the skimmer mount, an all-new story set in the island realm of Castora, two new explorable maps, and a new elite specialization for all nine of the game's playable professions.

Visions of Eternity will go on sale for $24.99 and, like its predecessor Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, have three planned major updates scheduled for release throughout 2026. Launch day will open two new maps on the island of Castora, a heretofore unvisited part of Tyria and home to ancient magics that have warped the local flora and fauna in stunning ways. Amidst this enigmatic new land, players will be able to explore new build options for their characters as each of the game's professions can earn a new elite specialization with a collection of new traits and utility skills that will further increase the game's already staggering amount of gameplay customization options. The skimmer mount, already a master of aquatic environments, can develop new capabilities through one of three new mastery lines associated with Castora.



The Homestead system introduced in Janthir Wilds is being extended in Visions of Eternity. A new plot for players' homesteads will be available on the sunny beaches of Castora. The expansion's Homestead Layout feature will allow players to easily and quickly share their customized space with others, allowing a perfect duplicate of a construction so long as a player has the requisite decorations. Whether they want to live in the wintery vales of Janthir or among the waves of a new island paradise, a player can choose which of their homestead plots is active at any time and use Layouts to easily restore their favorite looks.

The three planned major future updates will launch at no additional charge and continue to add new experiences: two additional maps, new Raid Encounters, a new Convergence, new rewards (including new earnable items in the Wizard's Vault), two extensions of the storyline, new legendary gear, and more will arrive in 2026.

Visions of Eternity's new story 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.

"Visions of Eternity continues our commitment to major yearly content expansions," said Josh Davis, Guild Wars 2 Game Director. "Over a decade into the game's life, we're making improvements and enhancements to game modes and systems, expanding the horizon of Guild Wars 2's gameplay. This expansion is offering up more elite specializations to further grow the possibilities for player customization and gameplay while becoming more seamlessly accessible across game modes and activities."

A wealth of new features, activities, and storylines open up new possibilities for play:
  • New maps: Two new explorable maps will be available on October 28, with a third and fourth to follow in future updates.
  • Elite Specializations: A new swath of character build options arrives to provide even more gameplay possibilities. Each new elite specialization offers new utility skills and traits for players to discover and hone their preferred play style across the broad range of the game's nine character professions. Anyone with a Guild Wars 2 account can partake in a beta to try out the new elite specializations August 20-27.
  • New and improved Skimmer: Dive into the sea with improved exploration and combat abilities on the skimmer. The skimmer updates represent one of three new mastery lines tied to the region of Castora.
  • New Raid Encounters and group content: The magically-infused landscape of the island is home to all manner of warped and twisted wildlife, which will provide groups of 10 players their ultimate challenge in instanced PvE content, coming in future updates.
  • New Homestead plot: By turning the wreckage of an island shipwreck into a fantabulous beachside home, decorators will have full control over the furniture, structure, and accessories in their cozy new paradise. Homestead Layouts can be shared with other players, giving characters instant access to their friends' best designs so long as they have the required decorations.
  • New Legendary Gear: A legendary weapon and legendary acquabreather at launch will be joined later by a legendary ring, legendary accessory, and another legendary weapon in later releases. These, along with a host of new armor and weapon sets and new Wizards Vault rewards will bring a decidedly magic island vibe to the adventure.

Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity is available for pre-purchase starting today at https://buy.guildwars2.com/visions-of-eternity for $24.99, and includes a bundle of pre-purchase bonus items, including a Tropical Resin Kintsugi weapon set, a Sea Captain Hat headpiece, the Eternal Alchemist character title, a shared inventory slot, and a level 80 character boost. The Deluxe Edition ($49.99) comes with the standard edition bundle, plus another batch of exclusive items: a Castoran Tentacled skimmer skin, a set of Fairy's Call Gathering Tools, an additional character slot, and an Identity Repair Kit. The Visions of Eternity Ultimate Edition ($74.99) includes the exclusive Standard and Deluxe Edition items, plus 4,000 Gems, Guild Wars 2's premium in-game store currency.


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Majority of the players who likes guild wars 1, never got into guild wars 2…. They share the same name, lore, characters but gameplay is totally different… I still remember before guild wars 2 launched they promised players dynamic story telling with each decisions they make, it will have an impact on later on as the story progresses but it never happened but instead players found a repetitive grind that is no different to other mmos at that time. I tried for a month with my collectors edition but i didn’t like it…. I still think about guild wars 1 lore and story that it had created
 
Arena.Net marketing is often amusing. They've been teasing new elite specializations for two weeks now. And finally, yesterday, they announced the expansion, but with practically no information about the main feature.

They said there would be a new zone, new enemies, and new cosmetics! Wow, really? Nobody would expect that from an expansion, huh? It was so surprising. However, they didn't mention that the new bad guys are actually not new at all. It was a complete disappointment.
 
Long live the king, WoW.


Impressed that Guild Wars 2 still exists.
I'm personally beyond a time in my life to justify paying a subscription to play an MMO, which is why I enjoy going back to GW2 a few times a year for a week or two.

I also occasionally play FF14 on a free account. Hundreds of hours of content for free, and can play practically every single class on one character all the way to level 70(30 levels below the latest expansion cap).

I would never consider going back to WoW unless they raised the free trial level cap to at least 50.
 
Guild Wars 2 news? What? This game is still active?

Majority of the players who likes guild wars 1, never got into guild wars 2…. They share the same name, lore, characters but gameplay is totally different… I still remember before guild wars 2 launched they promised players dynamic story telling with each decisions they make, it will have an impact on later on as the story progresses but it never happened but instead players found a repetitive grind that is no different to other mmos at that time. I tried for a month with my collectors edition but i didn’t like it…. I still think about guild wars 1 lore and story that it had created

I liked Guild Wars, I didn't like Guild Wars 2. I think I still have the physical copies of both tucked away in storage for no other reason than I paid for it and I'm keeping it as part of my PC game collection.
 
Majority of the players who likes guild wars 1, never got into guild wars 2…. They share the same name, lore, characters but gameplay is totally different… I still remember before guild wars 2 launched they promised players dynamic story telling with each decisions they make, it will have an impact on later on as the story progresses but it never happened but instead players found a repetitive grind that is no different to other mmos at that time. I tried for a month with my collectors edition but i didn’t like it…. I still think about guild wars 1 lore and story that it had created

-Sounds like your average MMORPG broken promise.

That said Guild Wars did do a great job with their thirst trap female characters so they always had that going for them.
 
Long live the king, WoW.


Impressed that Guild Wars 2 still exists.

I logged back into WoW after a decade away. I was not impressed and more confused than anything.

Guild Wars 2 has been pretty dynamic and nothing really compares to the World vs World mode. Sounds like many posters here haven't played the game at all and certainly haven't dipped into the many different modes available other than open world.
 
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