Today is the day that the much anticipated Janthir Wilds expansion lands in Guild Wars 2, with the talk being primarily about the Homesteads, the account-wide player housing feature that is a cornerstone of this update.

Going to the The Janthir Wilds

Over on the Guild Wars 2 site this morning they had an prep announcement to get players ready and frame the plans for the expansion:

Happy release day! When Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds launches in just a few short hours, you’ll begin a bold adventure into a dangerous and untamed wilderness. The denizens of Tyria are determined to recover and build a new future, and cooperation with neighbors is crucial. Your mission: befriend the lowland kodan and uncover the mysteries of a land that was once home to the enigmatic mursaat and their White Mantle followers.

In Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, you’ll embark on a story that unfolds across four major releases, starting with today’s launch and continuing with quarterly updates through the first half of 2025. Below is a high-level view of what’s going live today and our plans for what’s coming in the following three quarterly releases.

There’s a significant change to our map content plans that we’d like to bring to your attention. We had originally announced that the expansion would feature three open-world maps—two at launch, with a third released in a quarterly update that would then be expanded on in a subsequent quarterly release, like Inner Nayos. Rather than shipping the third map in two parts, we will instead be releasing a standalone map in both the second and third quarterly releases, each similar in size to Lake Doric. This brings the total open-world map count for Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds up from three to four.

As always, game development is full of surprises, so this roadmap comes with a general disclaimer that our release plans may change, despite our best efforts.

It isn’t just a launch today, but a commitment to a content update cadence over the next year.

There is also a launch trailer to go with today’s release.

I am sure the content will be appreciated by the core audience, but as an outsider I am a bit more interested in how the player housing implementation plays out.

I like player housing, but only when it is done well.  I know there are some vocal proponents out there that are absolutists on the idea, that any player housing is better than none, but I feel if you aren’t going to do it well, integrate it into the game, and give it some sense of being in the context of the world, then you should spend development time elsewhere.

So I am very much a fan of EverQuest II housing, which was integrated into the game on day one, which has a myriad of style and decor options, and which has a trade skill profession dedicated to making furniture.  Well done, 9/10 score, always do stuff with housing a guild halls when I go back and play.

Other attempts have not grabbed me.  WoW’s garrisons were impersonal to the point of being hideaways, and were seemingly designed specifically to prove that housing takes people out of the world, which was the WoW team’s argument about housing up until then.

Likewise, LOTRO’s housing is very pretty, but detached from the world, inflexible, and shoved off into distant corners so that they have no sense of being a part of anything.  I would have much preferred an instanced doorway in a lively town like Bree than the instanced neighborhoods of abandoned homes across the road from a marsh that was the state of things last I checked in.

So I am keen to hear how this new run at player housing works out.

Meanwhile, ArenaNet has other things planned to go with the launch.

• August 20–August 26: Twitch Drops
• August 26: Guild Wars 2 Anniversary Week
• September 10–September17: Fractal Rush Bonus Event
• September 17–September 24: Return to Path of Fire Bonus Event
• September 24–October 1: WvW Rush Bonus Event
• October 1–October 8: Living World Season 4 Bonus Event
• October 15–November 5: Shadow of the Mad King Halloween Festival

So there is a lot going on for fans of the game.

Related:

• ArenaNet – Announcing Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds
• ArenaNet – Janthir Wilds Store Page
• ArenaNet –  Janthir Wilds Launches Today!
• MOP – Guild Wars 2’s Janthir Wilds expansion officially launches with player housing today

Blizzard came pretty close to recreating 2012 by dropping an expansion release on top of a Guild Wars 2 launch date… not that I believe the conspiracy theories from the Mists of Pandaria era, but it was a memorable enough moment that I made reference to it when posting about the Guild Wars 2 Janthir Wilds expansion last week.

The War Within – Coming in August

And so it goes, the Janthir Wilds expansion will launch on August 20th, and The War Within will start rolling out with early access… for those who spent the most money on the expansion… on August 22nd, with the poors joining in on August 26th according to the launch schedule posted by Blizzard.

The War Withing Launch Roadmap

That will be a busy week between Tuesday the 20th and Monday the 26th.

As for what is coming with the new WoW expansion… well, nothing as deep as actual player housing, but there are the usual more levels, more zones, more dungeons, and more raids along with some new features:

• Delves: Deep beneath the surface lies treasure vaults waiting to be discovered. Explore these world instances solo or with up to four friends, along with an NPC companion, to defeat bosses and gain epic end-Learn more about Delves in our overview article.
• Warbands: Expand the potential of your alternate characters with account-wide progression across your family of characters on your Battle.net® account. Share your Warband Bank access, War Within Renown, achievements, collections, and more. Visit our latest article to learn more about Warbands.
• Hero Talents: Rise to new heights of power with new Hero Talent trees. Each class specialization has access to two choices of self-contained Hero Talent trees inspired by iconic Warcraft® universe archetypes. Revisit our previous Hero Talent previews to get a glimpse at what is in development.
• New Battleground: Deephaul Ravine
• Professions: New Recipes and Enchantments, updated NPC Work Orders
• UI Updates: Improved quest icons to make types of quests clearer.
• Skyriding (previously Dragonriding): Take to the skies on one of your favorite flying mounts with all new flight mechanics. Learn more in our Skyriding overview article.

Blizzard also has an announcement cinematic to go with the news, as one has come to expect… though I do remember a time when they were so rushed to announce something that the cinematic wasn’t ready yet.

Meanwhile, Blizz is still encouraging people to join The War Within Beta and to please pre-order the expansion, which comes with a level boost at all tiers so at least one of your retail characters can avoid the bland voyage through the Dragonflight content.

I am personally a bit attracted by the idea of this expansion, but not enough to throw any money at it yet.  I am happy enough in WoW Classic for now.

Related:

• Blizzard – World of Warcraft: The War Within Goes Live August 26!
• Massively OP – World of Warcraft The War Within launches August 26
• WCCFTech – World of Warcraft The War Within, WoW’s Most Ambitious Story Arc to Date, Launches August 26
• PC Gamer – World of Warcraft: The War Within gets a release date, marking the exact start of the MMO’s new 3-expansion long era