For most people nowadays, their first MMORPG is World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14. For me, it was Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet’s classic fantasy adventure that remains my favorite of the genre. Its most recent expansion, Janthir Wilds, added everything from the Spear weapon track to player housing. Now my fellow Tyrians can rejoice for Janthir Wilds’ second major content drop, Repentance, has arrived, adding a whole new region and bringing back some beloved Relics.
The highlight of Repentance is, of course, the Mistburned Barrens, the MMORPG‘s spooky new zone. Once home to the infamous mursaat, the tyrannical spellcaster group we’ve encountered in Guild Wars 2‘s latest expansions, the region is alive with ancient, malevolent magic. You’ll have to survive the ghosts of the mursaat and their victims while grappling with experiments gone awry.
To the North, you’ll find a dormant construct that’ll help you cross a ravine of agonized souls, while a now-abandoned bloodstone laboratory in the South will attract the attention of the Tyrian Alliance and our heroes. In the center of the region, you’ll find a long-forgotten library, where you’ll finally learn about the mysterious Mistburn that’s overtaking Janthir and threatening Tyria as a whole.
As someone who loves the aesthetic of Dungeons and Dragons’ Curse of Strahd and World of Warcraft’s Revendreth, the Mistburned Barrens is easily the highlight of this patch. It takes Ascalon and makes it a whole lot drearier.
New region aside, there are some additions to the base Janthir experience. Mount Balrior has a new challenge mode, making it even harder, with final boss Ura The Steamshrieker available as a legendary encounter from Tuesday March 25 onwards. Greer The Blightbringer will also arrive in the Balrior’s Convergence instance.
There is a mix of 12 new and returning core Relics to choose from. Summon relics are back, folks, meaning you can enlist golems, horrors, rock dogs, and parrots to fight alongside you in PvE play.
Finally, some much-requested quality-of-life changes are coming to World vs. World. It’s easier to work out which player belongs to which guild, and a new weapon set is set to launch alongside the upcoming March 25 update.
Looking toward the rest of 2025, ArenaNet has confirmed that a new beta test for PvP mode, Push, will run from Tuesday May 20 to Monday May 26. Akin to what you see in Overwatch 2, you’re tasked with pushing an objective toward the enemy base while fending off foes to stop them from hurling it back into yours. Then there are various new events to look forward to, including the Return to End of Dragons, which is music to my ears.
Guild Wars 2’s Repentance update is out now, with a follow-up patch set for Tuesday March 25.
To celebrate Repentance, there’s a whole slew of new Guild Wars 2 Twitch drops for you to collect, so switch on the TV and grab yourself some goodies. Or, if you’re looking for something completely different, we have a list of the best free MMORPGs to keep you busy.
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