NCSOFT Announces 'Heart of Thorns' Expansion Pack For 'Guild Wars 2'

NCSOFT's critically acclaimed MMORPG "Guild War 2" is set to receive its first expansion pack. The announcement introducing the expansion "Heart of Thorns" was made during the recent PAX South event. Developer ArenaNet has updated the official website with some details regarding expansions content, along with a shiny new announcement trailer.

According to Cinema Blend, the expansion takes players to a brand new locale dubbed Maguuma Jungle. As the name suggests, the jungle incorporates hostile wilderness full of new enemy types, storylines, events and boss battles. The open-world new territory has a distinctive look featuring ruins from ancient civilisations. The expansion will also herald new solo and group content expanding upon existing weapons, modes and skills in the original game.

"Heart of Thorns" incorporates a new Mastery system unlocking an alternative means for player progress. Levelling up beyond 80 now enables new abilities such as hang gliding and allows players to tear armoured bark from the heavily-armoured Mordrem. New collections that gamers can pursue in the game will be instrumental in unlocking a yet unnamed legendary weapon at a later stage in the game.

The expansion introduces new profession specialisations that allow different character classes to unlock a new and previously unavailable weapon for the class. The same applies to other character class specific attributes such as traits, skills and other unique mechanics affecting the overall gameplay. VG247 reports of a brand new profession dubbed Revenant. The new addition includes heavily-armed warriors touted to possess the ability to employ the "powers of the Mists" against their foes.

Additionally, gamers will have the option to create a guild hall right in the new Maguuma locale itself. The expansion also introduces the Stronghold mode. It's a guild team feature meant for competitive PvP battles. The mode encourages players to hire soldiers and use the numbers to launch attack on enemy forts. The mode can be won by defeating the enemy team's lord. A new map called Borderlands has been specifically earmarked for elaborate World vs World battles.

The "Heart of Thorns" expansion pack hasn't received a release date yet. However, "Guild Wars 2's" massive 3.5 million strong subscriber base should be eager to pounce upon the new addition to the MMORPG. According to last year's data reported by Inc Gamers, that shouldn't be a problem since the game had hit an impressive concurrent player count of 460,000 players.