Today, ArenaNet is announcing Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, the next expansion coming to the MMORPG after the final update released for the previous expansion, Janthir Wilds.
As you might recall, ArenaNet switched to a yearly expansion model. As such, you can expect Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity to launch relatively soon, albeit a couple of months later than Janthir Wilds did in 2024, as Visions of Eternity will be available from October 28. The new expansion is already available for pre-purchase on the official website 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, priced at $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. Finally, the Visions of Eternity Ultimate Edition (which costs $74.99) includes the exclusive Standard and Deluxe Edition items, plus 4,000 Gems, Guild Wars 2’s premium in-game store currency.
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Josh Davis said in a statement:
Visions of Eternity continues our commitment to major yearly content expansions. 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.
The new narrative of Visions of Eternity begins with rumors of Castora, a fabled island allegedly rich with magic and ley energy, as told by the seafarers of Tyria. The Tyrian Alliance receives word that the Inquest, the infamous group of evil Asuran technology researchers, has been searching for the island of Castora. Together with allies willing to brave an unknown voyage, the Commander (the title of the player character in Guild Wars 2) sets off to discover the Inquest’s goals and stop them before it’s too late.
On day one, players will be able to explore two new maps in Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, with two more coming throughout 2026 in post-launch updates alongside 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.
Each profession (the game’s term for class) will receive a new Elite specialization, greatly increasing the amount of build options thanks to new traits and utility skills. As with the previous expansions, ArenaNet will open up beta access to the Elite specializations for a week, between August 20 and 27, to anyone with a game account.
The Skimmer aquatic mount will be expanded with three new Mastery lines. The housing-like Homestead system is also being augmented with a new plot on the sunny beaches of Castora and the brand new game-wide Homestead Layout feature, which will allow players to easily and quickly share their customized space with others, allowing a perfect duplicate of a construction (provided that the player has the requisite decorations).
When it comes to new gear, a legendary weapon and a legendary Aquabreather will be available on October 28, with a legendary ring, a legendary accessory, and another legendary weapon to be released in later patches. Of course, there will also be new armor and weapon sets and new Wizards Vault rewards, as mentioned above.
ArenaNet’s parent company, NCSoft, may have more or less inadvertently advertised that the studio is already working on Guild Wars 3, but if that’s the case, they still have a big enough team to continue building Guild Wars 2.
