Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Hands-On Preview

Last week, I had the good fortune of visiting Seattle to see ArenaNet and spend some hands-on time with their upcoming Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns expansion. For many veteran players, the Heart of Thorns announcement at PAX South in January was a long time coming, and effectively revitalized an already deeply faithful community with promises of new regions, PVP modes, and a ninth character class, the Revenant.

Guild Wars 2 has never been particularly conformative, thanks to the forward thinkers over at ArenaNet, which might be why the game boasts one of the friendliest, most absurdly optimistic communities known to online gaming. This was more or less the same attitude that permeated throughout the day-long affair, during which ArenaNet introduced some of their key developers -- including the ever-photogenic Colin Johanson -- and gave us a rundown on the Heart of Thorns content we would be playing.

The World Is Changing

The demo was split into two parts, allowing us time with both early PVE and the new Stronghold PVP mode. Of course, Revenants were available to try out, and that's what just about everyone did. Before we get much further into that, something worth noting is the expansion's focus on the open world. Yes, Guild Wars 2 already has that, but the dev team pointed out that much of the story content in Heart of Thorns will actually be moved into the open world, instead of playing out in contained instances as the Living Story has been.

That's not to say the expansion completely does away with instances. Certain steps in the story will still require players to leave the open world, such as the starting mission I played, which seemed to immediately follow the last cutscene in Season 2. The Pact ships are scattered all around the new Verdant Brink zone, mostly as flaming wreckage rather than actual functioning airships, with very few survivors to speak of. While Destiny's Edge 2.0 is arguing with Canach, I notice my character is actively participating in the conversation, mainly by moving her head to address NPCs and actually contributing to ongoing dialogue. ArenaNet later pointed out this little detail as part of their efforts to create a more immersive player experience in Heart of Thorns, one that does away with the somewhat stale one-to-one exchanges we see in Guild Wars 2's current cutscenes.

Dynamism appears to be the overall theme in Heart of Thorns, with how the open world has taken priority over instances (or cutscenes). In terms of gameplay, more complex mechanics you would expect to find in dungeons have been integrated into the open environment and story progression. These latter two elements will see overlap as well, meaning more large-scale cooperative content. As an example, the Wyvern mini-boss is encountered in the world as part of the expansion's primary storyline, thus allowing players on the same quest to drop into the fight at any given time, regardless of whether someone else is already in combat with the beast. It's a very obvious and welcome deviation from the old Living Story setup ArenaNet has been utilizing.

If you thought the Mordrem were bad before, consider the new Mordrem baddies walking on two legs. During the demo we played, these sentient monsters of plant matter joined the fight with their more familiar brethren, like the Modrem Husks and vines. Acting as commanders within Mordremoth's army, they lack the overwhelming strength in numbers wielded by the lesser Mordrem, but make up for it with intelligence.

For lore junkies out there, some of the new enemy lines suggest that Mordremoth can convert races other than sylvari into his minions. Scary.

The Revenant Goes Old School

ArenaNet previously gave the Revenant class an in-depth introduction, delving into the mechanics of the profession's combat style, weapons, and unique Legendary Stances. The demo included only the three weapons that were previously confirmed: hammer, mace, and axe. Depending on your weapon choice, the Revenant acts as a melee to mid-range fighter, possessing abilities that can either put you closer to enemies or keep them at a distance.

For fans of the original game and its expansions, the Revenant's energy resource is reminiscent of how professions used to be handled. Energy management becomes a huge factor in playing a successful Revenant, with all skills being governed by energy consumption -- as opposed to cooldowns, which most existing Guild Wars 2 professions fall back on. Mindless facerolling or careless spamming will only put you in unnecessarily risky situations, where you might end up having to dodge roll for several seconds waiting for that energy regen to pick up.

The Revenant really doesn't play like any other class currently found in Guild Wars 2, and I'd even go as far as suggesting it boasts a higher learning curve due to the element of resource management. Not to mention the Legendary Stances add another layer of depth, reminiscent of the Dervish in Guild Wars Nightfall. Granted, the Revenant doesn't exactly channel the Six, but the implementation of different forms based on iconic characters is an interesting take on the old mechanic. Similar to the Dervish's avatar forms, every stance will change the Revenant's appearance and drastically alter your play style on the fly. Choose those stances wisely, because different situations will undoubtedly call for different stances and abilities.

Visually, the class is set apart from its peers by blindfolds and a red-on-black color scheme. Don't worry though, because Revenant don't actually need to stay blind, and the blindfolds are simply the class-specific option found during character creation. As to how any of this fits into Rytlock's story and his return from the Mists remains a mystery, though, and when I spoke briefly to dev director Kristen Bornemann, she wasn't willing to talk too much about the lore. No one wanted to confirm swords as a Revenant weapon either, despite how many times this question was asked.

Stronghold, Where Roles Matter

When ArenaNet announced the Stronghold PVP mode during their big Heart of Thorns reveal, there existed a spark of hope that this might be the new Guild vs. Guild, what with Guild Halls also confirmed for imminent release. Well, that particular connection was already debunked by the devs themselves, when they released their big feature on Stronghold and its first map, the Battle of Champion's Dusk.

Stronghold would not be the new GvG. My personal interest in the mode dipped after this.

Even so, my impressions of the upcoming sPVP mode came out fairly positive following the several rounds I was able to play at ArenaNet's studios. For those unaware, this mode pits two teams of five against one another in a heavily MOBA-inspired setup, where resources are needed to buy units, and units need to be escorted to the enemy's fortified keep.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Stronghold is the greater need for team cooperation, as players will inevitably discover the value of different roles beyond just straight DPS or bunker. Support tactics actually become more viable when NPCs require defending from enemy units and players. Utility-heavy classes like Engineers can be made into effective supply runners and oft-defenders when the rest of the team is away.

In the end, I can honestly say Stronghold still feels very much like Guild Wars 2 PVP, only with more factors woven in. It might provide a welcome variation from sPVP's current Conquest-heavy playlist, but I'm not entirely certain how the PVP community will accept new mode and ultimately put it into play.

As for the brief mention I made above regarding Guild Halls, ArenaNet wasn't quite prepared to discuss them, though Kristen did note they were working to integrate the halls into every aspect of gameplay -- and making it a pretty neat place to just hang out in.

PAX East attendees will get their shot at demoing the same content this coming weekend. As of now, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns still has no official release window or pricing.

Follow Lydia on Twitter @RabidChinaGirl or check out her news and reviews every day here on Neoseeker.