![]() More than ever, we’re confident in our future and we’re committed to long-term support for this community. Meanwhile, the number of features slowly crept upward, without a plan or designated resources to maintain them. In this case, it meant that the core game took a back seat. That’s not a bad thing by default, but every development strategy has tradeoffs-different pros and cons. Over the past decade, our development strategy has skewed more toward addition, rather than iteration. Because the systems introduced in expansions like Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™, and Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons™ are so ubiquitous and central to the player experience, they deserve iteration just as much as any true “core” system. When we introduce features to Guild Wars 2, we want those new tools to be relevant across the entire game-past, present, and future. In the context of supporting the live game and our new development strategy, “core” also encapsulates the long list of content and features that have been added to the game over the past decade. Player, dungeons, Fractals of the Mists dungeons, crafting-the list goes on. Systems-wise, that’s a huge chunk of the game: core Tyria and the story up to level 80, professions, World vs. Let’s start by defining the “core game.” Core is typically viewed as synonymous with the base Guild Wars 2 experience-anything that doesn’t require an expansion. Q: How does this shift result in more support for the core game? We’ve already hired a bunch of new folks since January, and we’ll be opening additional roles throughout the year. In fact, thanks to the growth that Guild Wars 2 saw in 2022, we’re increasing the size of the Guild Wars 2 development team-largely in content and systems design. Q: Do smaller expansions mean that there are fewer developers working on Guild Wars 2? You can read a more detailed overview of the change in the February Studio Update. Once that expansion’s year-long cycle is complete, the next expansion will be just around the corner. Alongside these expansion content updates, we’re beefing up our support for the core game so we can iterate and improve on Guild Wars 2, even while releasing new expansion content on a more consistent schedule. In the following quarterly updates, we’ll add story chapters, an additional open-world map, challenge modes for the Strike Missions, a new fractal dungeon and challenge mode, new rewards, additions to the new systems introduced in that expansion, and-depending on the release plan for that expansion-new gameplay and combat features. In this new model, the first release in an expansion cycle will introduce a new story arc and setting, two new open-world maps, two Strike Missions, new gameplay and combat features, new Masteries, and new rewards. Rather than releasing an expansion every 2–4 years with 1–2 seasons of Living World in between, we’ll be releasing smaller expansions, with a lower price, much more frequently. We’re changing how we deliver updates to the game so that we can adopt a more consistent release schedule, minimize “content droughts,” and increase our support for the core game. Q: I’ve been lost in the Tangled Depths for the last two months with no cell phone service and I missed the news. We’ve been keeping a close eye on the discussion, and below we’ve compiled responses to some of the more prominent community questions. It was a lot of information to take in, and understandably, there are some lingering questions from the community about the changes. In our February Studio Update, we outlined some changes we’re making in our development approach that allow us to deliver new content, features, and core game updates more consistently. Today we’ll address some community questions regarding our announcement back in February, share an updated roadmap through the beginning of summer, and then talk at a high level about our longer-term projects that extend beyond June. Welcome to the latest installment of the ArenaNet Studio Update, your go-to resource for Guild Wars 2 development news.
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