Looking Forward

For a while now the community has been speculating as to what the plans moving forward with the game will entail. A lot of fuss has been made over the fact that we wont be getting an expansion, instead moving directly into Living World Season 5. I would just like to share my input on the topic and speculate as to what the developers have got cooking.

People are worried that we won't even be seeing another expansion and I want to alleviate those concerns by saying that I do believe that the expansion is already in the works as we speak. The reason behind the release of season 5 before the next expansion will be to tide us over until the next expansion release, which will be a BIG one. Why do I think the next expansion will be a big one you ask? Well it all comes down to each 'Gimmick' each expansion has, and the new gimmick next expansion will bring.

In Heart Of Thorns we got the introduction of Elite Specialisations, a clever way of continuing progression and unlocking new play styles , a trend that will continue into other expansions moving forward. The Glider was also introduced, giving us a new way to traverse the world, and of course my favourite class (Revenant) was introduced.

In Path Of Fire we got our new Elite Specialisations following our trend from Heart Of Thorns, and the introduction of mounts. A hotly debated topic beforehand but generally accepted among the community, our new way of getting about.

So what other goodies are left? What will we get next expansion? Something Glider like would be a bit underwhelming and while new mounts would be a welcome addition, that was already the 'Gimmick' for Path Of Fire. There isn't much else we can add movement wise to the game. We can Glide, Surf, Leap, Teleport, Jump, ZOOM and arguably fly. So what's next?

That question leads me to the reason that I believe the next expansion will be a while off (but is most certainly in the works). Seeing as we don't have much else to add, I reckon the next thing we are going to get alongside our new set of Elite Specialisations is a brand new race, most likely the Tengu. Adding in a new race is a monumental task when you consider all the factors that go into adding them with reference to how Guild Wars 2 works. New Texture mapping for EVERY ITEM IN THE GAME and the new items introduced in the next expansion. Animations for every class, Personal story with all branching paths to be written, new Racial city, additions to the existing lore and so on.

All that just for our expansion 'gimmick', a lot more work than Gliders or Mounts that's for sure. That doesn't even take into account the new areas they will have to create, Elite Specialisations they will have to design and Lore they will have to write for our next expansion. The main point being, this will all take a fairly long time to test and produce and thinking in the long term, Arena Net has decided to keep us busy while we wait with the Introduction of Living World Season 5.

But hey, that's just my take and what I can gather. Sorry for the lengthy post and thanks to everyone that took the time to read it in its entirety. What do you think is coming in the future? Do you think I'm a raving loon and the game is just going to collapse in on itself? Let me know :)

We'll get island fronts and war expeditions.

If I'm reading this right, you're speculating that the next expansion will be centered around the addition of a single race? I'm not sure that is likely as I don't believe that will appeal to the vast majority of the player base.

I believe that it is more likely that the next expansion will focus on underwater travel/combat. I'm not saying that it will be entirely centered on this; rather, that it will be a large portion of what will be offered. There could be locations that are only accessible via underwater travel (islands, underwater cities under a dome of some sort, etc...) and new mount mechanics for traversing on or under the water. This type of content, in my opinion, would find a broader target audience than the addition of a single race.

@kharmin.7683 said:If I'm reading this right, you're speculating that the next expansion will be centered around the addition of a single race? I'm not sure that is likely as I don't believe that will appeal to the vast majority of the player base.

I believe that it is more likely that the next expansion will focus on underwater travel/combat. I'm not saying that it will be entirely centered on this; rather, that it will be a large portion of what will be offered. There could be locations that are only accessible via underwater travel (islands, underwater cities under a dome of some sort, etc...) and new mount mechanics for traversing on or under the water. This type of content, in my opinion, would find a broader target audience than the addition of a single race.

No, what I'm trying to say is that the addition of a new race is one of the many factors as to why the next expansion will take a bit longer than usual to make, as implementing an entire new race is a lot more work than adding gliders or mounts as a feature.

The expansion will not be focused SOLELY on the new Race, rather will most likely follow on from the end of Season 5.

I don't think the Tengu, or any other race will be the spotlight of the next expansion. Perhaps, it will be housing? More traditional quests? Something special in Cantha, or one of the unexplored regions? I don't know.But, I don't think it will be a new race, especially not with a complete Personal Story, as the cost (voice-acting, altering every piece of armor, etc.) would just be too resource/cost-intensive for the return.

The reason we're getting LW5 after LW4 is the next expansion is not ready and Anet learned the hard way that content droughts suck the life out of players.

Why not climbing? Like in zelda BOTW? Cliffside enough huge that you can't climb it by simply jumping around with bunny.

Underwater mounts... welp should have been introduced with PoF, skimmer does nothing, it could at least go underwater.

@Hesacon.8735 said:The reason we're getting LW5 after LW4 is the next expansion is not ready and Anet learned the hard way that content droughts suck the life out of players.Pretty much Sums up my post and what I was getting at.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:I don't think the Tengu, or any other race will be the spotlight of the next expansion. Perhaps, it will be housing? More traditional quests? Something special in Cantha, or one of the unexplored regions? I don't know.But, I don't think it will be a new race, especially not with a complete Personal Story, as the cost (voice-acting, altering every piece of armor, etc.) would just be too resource/cost-intensive for the return.

I dont think the Tengu, or any other race for the matter, would be the spotlight for the expansion. Just a feature that would take a large amount of time to implement. Like you said, housing could be in the works too. What my post was getting at was that I DO think an expansion is being actively worked on and is coming. A lot of players are doomsaying at the moment and think that LW is taking over the role of expansion, I wanted to express that I do not think this is the case.

@hugo.4705 said:Why not climbing? Like in zelda BOTW? Cliffside enough huge that you can't climb it by simply jumping around with bunny.

Underwater mounts... welp should have been introduces with PoF, skimmer does nothing, it could at least go underwater.

A bit underwhelming don't you think? Mounts have already been introduced so a new expansion solely based on a mechanic we already have wouldn't be very innovative, and if we do get any new ones they will most likely be drip fed to us like the Roller beetle was.

Well, you did state the reason for releasing Season 5 before the next expansion was a new race. I just disagreed.I do, however, think there will be more expansions in the future. I could be wrong, of course.Still, they do seem to generate a nice chunk of change.

Welp, now I'm just hoping fir ton of lore, gigantic metas and rewarding events...Mounts and Gliders are doing everything.

Here is my bet:

Next one= underwaterDiscovering largos, uses of water streams, islands, boats.....

After= undergroundDiscovering Quora Sum, new mechanics, digging at specific places to unlock secret rooms....Essentially asuran lore.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Well, you did state the reason for releasing Season 5 before the next expansion was a new race. I just disagreed.

No, I said that Season 5 is to alleviate the extra wait for the next expansion as a whole, not just the race. The race is just one feature, but one that would take longer than things like Gliders and Mounts that we've seen in previous expansions.

yeah well, I don't need one more gimmick as the focal point of the expansion. I need playable content.

@hugo.4705 said:Welp, now I'm just hoping fir ton of lore, gigantic metas and rewarding events...Mounts and Gliders are doing everything.

Here is my bet:

Next one= underwaterDiscovering largos, uses of water streams, islands, boats.....

After= undergroundDiscovering Quora Sum, new mechanics, digging at specific places to unlock secret rooms....Essentially asuran lore.

So you think they are going to flesh out largos that are supposed to be mysterious that we only seen is it 1?Before charr homelands or going north and reclaiming the norn homelands?EditTho I agree going underground after asura tech and lore sounds nifty

I think what many people do not realize is that an important part of an expansion is things that are also added to the existing content.Gliding was made possible in all of tyria and not only in the HoT areas. Everyone playing in the old areas encountered people who glide.Mounts were made usable in all of tyria and not only in the PoF areas. Again, everyone playing in the previous areas encountered people using a mount.

For those wo did not buy the expansions right away, seeing all the other people use the expansion abilities likely was a good "encouragement" to get the expansion too.

I absolutely expect that the next expansion will not only have new maps that make use of new abilities, but that those abilities will once again be usable in all of the previously existing areas/maps. Now what abilities could this be? If it has anything to do with movement, there is not that much left to implement.

Flying is already possible with the griffon, and we all know many people get upset when other people are given something that they themselves had to work/pay for. So introducing new means of flying would probably not add that much and at the same time have bad effects on those "but I had to work hard to get my griffon" people.

Regular ground travel already has a big variety of mounts with different specialisations so there is not much to add there.

Underground travel/exploration would require all the old maps to be fundementally (no pun intended) changed by adding actual underground areas to explore, which I think would be awesome but too much work to be realistically expected.

Teleporting was also brought up. We already had teleporting by waypoints and asura gates from day1 of the game, so how could this be added? Making it possible to just teleport to where you want to be would invalidate not only the existing waypoints, but also all the existing mounts and gliding. Other means of short-range teleportation already exist with mesmer portals and a few items you can use yourself. So in my opinion, this will not something ANet considered as viable.

So underwater movement/abilities remain as one thing that a) already has plenty of areas in the existing maps where this could be used and b) any new content tied to new underwater theme could be added into these areas without having to modify the existing map geometry c) has NO means of transportation at all yet, not in core game, not in HoT and not in PoF. That is why many people speculate on underwated content/abilities ;)

However, although the pervious expansions featured movement abilities does not mean that the main point of a third expansion also has to be something related to movement. It could be something entirely different and unexpected. I am really looking forward to finding out one day!

Race doesn't matter in GW2 and is a purely cosmetic gimmick outside of roleplaying. The actual gameplay doesn't care about your race and it's good like that, imho. Adding a new race adds virtually nothing to the game that couldn't be added without adding a new race. We can have new maps, new stories, new animations, new elites and everything one would expect from an expansion without adding a new race since, repeat after me: Race. Doesn't. Matter. Beside. Cosmetics. GW2 isn't WoW or any other MMO where race is an actual factor in gameplay, again, your racial choice is a purely cosmetic one.So, instead of focusing a new expansion on an obsolete gimmick, I'd rather have them put the limited ressources into something worthwhile. I'm all in for an underwater expansion and an overall overhaul of UW-combat and content for example. Or an expansion that adds additional layers to existing maps going underground.

for further referrence: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search?Search=new+race

I doubt the next expansion will be underwater, there's little to suggest it will be. Underwater content has been effectively dropped, with little to no content in maps released after launch. Underwater combat is boring and the underwater camera is still pretty terrible. They also haven't released a single new underwater weapon skin in years.

If they add new underwater legendaries in season 5 then I'd say it may be a possibility but I doubt they will. I hope they don't without making some amazing changes to lift it above simply floating in space.

I also doubt a new race would be the main feature of an expansion given how often they've said that new races bring very little to the game especially considering the huge ongoing cost of adding one.

I will never understand people's obsession with expansions. I'd be happy with living world forever. -shrugs-

@Linken.6345 said:

@hugo.4705 said:Welp, now I'm just hoping fir ton of lore, gigantic metas and rewarding events...Mounts and Gliders are doing everything.

Here is my bet:

Next one= underwaterDiscovering largos, uses of water streams, islands, boats.....

After= undergroundDiscovering Quora Sum, new mechanics, digging at specific places to unlock secret rooms....Essentially asuran lore.

Maybe they are luring us to charrs homeland, but note I'm happy with charr exploration ^^

Now saying that I prefer:-> charr -> asuras

@lokh.2695 said:Race doesn't matter in GW2 and is a purely cosmetic gimmick outside of roleplaying. The actualgameplay doesn't care about your race and it's good like that, imho. Adding a new race adds virtually nothing to the game that couldn't be added without adding a new race. We can have new maps, new stories, new animations, new elites and everything oe would expect from an expansion without adding a new race since, repeat after me: Race. Doesn't. Matter. Beside. Cosmetics. GW2 isn't WoW or any other MMO where race is an actual factor in gameplay, again, your racial choice is a purely cosmetic one.

''Race doesnt matter in GW2'', Maybe not to you mate. That is not empirical fact, merely your opinion. A lot of players (myself included) think that demanding the devs keep pumping more and more of the same 'gameplay' content into the game for players to voraciously eat away at it and demand more, is pretty harmful and at the very least, repetitive. Do you really want the next 3 years or so of content to be limited to smashing your head against the same PvP, Raids, Fractals, Dungeons etc over and over? I for one want to see the story progress, and for the world to be built upon. New Races, new lands and new lore. The Living World is a key feature for pushing this forward. We shouldnt have to be confined to the norms of MMO's seeing as we've worked so hard to stand out in the first place with things like the living story. If you really want a themepark MMO to bash your head against the same content year after year, then there are already many good ones out there. Forgive me for wanting this one to be different.

@Ahtuno.8537 said:the next thing we are going to get alongside our new set of Elite Specialisations is a brand new race, most likely the Tengu. [...]

While I would love that, I highly doubt it. Dream on, chap, dream on. ;)

Adding in a new race is a monumental task [...]

The reason there is another season before the next expansion is to introduce a new storyline (hopefully nothing involving elder dragons) to serve as a prelude to the next expansion.

@Ahtuno.8537 said:

@lokh.2695 said:Race doesn't matter in GW2 and is a purely cosmetic gimmick outside of roleplaying. The actualgameplay doesn't care about your race and it's good like that, imho. Adding a new race adds virtually nothing to the game that couldn't be added without adding a new race. We can have new maps, new stories, new animations, new elites and everything oe would expect from an expansion without adding a new race since, repeat after me: Race. Doesn't. Matter. Beside. Cosmetics. GW2 isn't WoW or any other MMO where race is an actual factor in gameplay, again, your racial choice is a purely cosmetic one.

Why do you think that your opinion based on nothing but your personal feelings alleviates anything? I dunno what their plans are and whether or not a next expansion is in the works but your wish that everything will be ok doesn't really tell me anything about what will happen.

@lokh.2695 said:So please elaborate where race matters and what features can be added only by adding a new race and by no other means. I'm all ears.

Let me answer your question with a question. seeing as you think race doesn't matter, when you entered the character creation screen im assuming you picked a race at random then? Because race doesn't matter right? I highly doubt that. You pick a race based on what appeals to you about their Lore, appearance and overall feel. If race really didnt matter as you say, you would have face rolled character creation and picked all options at random.

I dont know if the game isnt making it clear for you, but the Personal Story, Living World and Expansion Questlines are all letting you know that this is a story driven game. If you didnt want an MMORPG (note the RPG part there) then you should've picked a different game.

But to answer your initial question, a new Race would bring an entire new Personal Story, map completion in the racial capital with new vistas, landmarks, cultural armor vendor and (I know you couldnt care less) but a lot of additional lore to the game.

@Gehenna.3625 said:Why do you think that your opinion based on nothing but your personal feelings alleviates anything? I dunno what their plans are and whether or not a next expansion is in the works but your wish that everything will be ok doesn't really tell me anything about what will happen.

The post was speculation about the future, go back and read it, I made it very clear.

@Ahtuno.8537 said:

@Gehenna.3625 said:Why do you think that your opinion based on nothing but your personal feelings alleviates anything? I dunno what their plans are and whether or not a next expansion is in the works but your wish that everything will be ok doesn't really tell me anything about what will happen.

I read it. Nothing there that alleviates any concerns as far as I'm concerned.