The Guild Wars 2 site has been updated with a new blog post to discuss how the Heart of Thorns expansion will bring a renewed focus and improvement to the core principals on which the game was built: "the power of our dynamic event system, the belief that playing with others makes for a better experience, the impact of environment on stories, and the joy of exploration and discovery."
To that end, the very detailed post discusses how maps are being created with purpose and replayability in mind and that give players a reason to return. The core philosophy is that each dimensional map will be structured for depth of experience rather than expansion of the land mass. The team is adamant that the world that came before should not be an empty wasteland, but one that players want to revisit.
Heart of Thorns will also feature the new Outpost System with dynamic events tied to each one complete with local characters and lore. According to the article, the outposts give meaning and context to the areas in which players are adventuring. NPCs will take an active role in assisting players by journeying with them, helping build defenses and more.
Players will be able to unlock Adventures, mini-games complete with their own specific UI, as they move through an outpost:
For example, rather than completing a jumping puzzle, an adventure may challenge you to complete that puzzle in a certain amount of time. Unlike events, however, individual performance is tracked and measured. It’s a challenge for you to overcome. Your performance in adventures will be scored, and you’ll be able to see—and test yourself against—the scores of your friends and guildmates. Because adventures take place in the open world, you’ll see other players working to overcome the same challenges as you, and in many cases you’ll be able to work and excel together. Adventures are a reimagining of the concept of permanent content that you can challenge yourself with and enjoy as you move through the world that’s been around since launch. As a result, you may see some activities you heard about before the launch of Guild Wars 2 make an appearance as adventures.
ArenaNet is also committed to giving Guild Wars 2 players challenging content as they move through the game's open areas. In Heart of Thorns, players will face off against terrain, monsters and bosses that will offer more challenge than any other open world content in the game thusfar.
Intrigued? Read the full and very comprehensive post on the Guild Wars 2 site.
