Guild Wars 2: Visions Of Eternity Is The Mmo's Best Annual...

A strong start doesn't mean much for a studio that has struggled to make satisfying conclusions.

In 2023, ArenaNet switched to an annual expansion plan for Guild Wars 2—smaller, but more frequent expansions that rolled out in stages across an entire year. The benefit has been a more consistent release schedule. But there are downsides too. The first of these expansions, Secrets of the Obscure, felt like it was trying to pack too much into its limited development schedule—its ambition in terms of story far outstripping what ArenaNet had the time to make. Despite plenty of positives, it ultimately felt rushed and underdeveloped.

Last year's Janthir Wilds was more assured, taking valuable lessons from SotO in terms of its scope. It launched with one of the best maps in recent memory (alongside a second that was simply OK), and brought a handful of features that made for a promising first impression. It put its best foot forward, but then ran out of steam. What followed in the subsequent updates was… fine, mostly, but paled in comparison to the expansion's opening salvo, and didn't make the most of the concepts the story was teasing.

Visions of Eternity, then, is another shot at proving this annual expansion plan has the juice. It's the best opening act of an annual expansion yet—nicely building upon what worked in Janthir Wilds with two dense new maps and a major addition to buildcrafting.

A low-key opening sequence sets up the basic premise: the Inquest—an outfit of evil asuran scientists—have set sail for the fabled island of Castora. The player, alongside an almost comically mismatched selection of former allies, follow along, figuring that whatever they're doing is probably worth stopping.

It's a refreshingly small start for Guild Wars 2's tropical island adventure. Where previous expansions let themselves get bogged down in the tectonic shifts of political allegiances—the discovery of the Wizards Court, the forming of the Tyrian Alliance—and the lengthy conversations they require, Visions gets to the point relatively quickly. Inquest bad. Hey, Rytlock's here too. More than some big expansion-sized threat, it feels like the start of an old Living World season, which is no bad thing given the quality of some of those releases.

The first map, Shipwreck Strand, is lush; a beautiful landscape full of sand, sea and shipwrecks. Quickly you stumble upon a village of castaways—Tyrian explorers who set out to discover the lost lands of Castora, but who faile

Source: PC Gamer