Heart of Thorns Expansion Confirmed

ArenaNet has confirmed that Heart of Thorns is indeed an expansion for Guild Wars 2. The confirmation came during this weekend's PAX South convention. We are live blogging the event.

Official Site is Up! - https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/en

A few things of interest:

• A new profession, The Revenant. Rytlock is the first one and brings the skills back with him from the Mists
• Mastery System is basically account based alternate advancement for level 80 characters. Continual and ongoing for all characters. Basically GW2's version of AA, but account wide.
• New specializations for each profession.  Example: Ranger can learn to become a Druid. 
• New weapons for professions: Necromancer gets its Greatsword, Engineers getting Hammers. More to come.
• Guild Vs. Guild finally coming to GW2! How's it changing? Guild Leaderboard, and set Guild Teams.
• Guild Halls coming in Heart of Thorns too! Home base for you and your guild to grow, build, and relax in.
• Legendaries are about to get more awesome, as Precursors can now be obtained through the Mastery system. Along with new precursors and new legendaries as well.
• New Stronghold game mode for SPVP.
• New WvW Borderland!

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns features

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the first expansion for Guild Wars 2. Founded on the idea that the journey is the goal, the Heart of Thorns expansion continues the Guild Wars 2 tradition of challenging the conventions of MMOs to fulfill the promise of what online worlds should be.

The Heart of Maguuma

New adventures await you in the heart of the Maguuma Jungle. Confront the growing hordes of Mordremoth’s minions, discover allies from ancient civilizations, and battle new enemies.

• Tackle challenging group content.
• Explore new open world jungle maps.
• Experience new events and storylines.
• Test your mettle in new boss battles.

The Mastery System

We’re reimagining progression with our new Mastery system. Explore new training opportunities for your character beyond level 80 and master abilities like hang gliding in the jungle, tearing the bark off of heavily armored Mordrem, or building new collections that earn precursors to a legendary weapon.

New Profession: Revenant

Channel legendary powers to slaughter foes and unleash chaos on the battlefield with our brand new profession: the revenant. Enter the field of battle heavily armored and equipped with the otherworldly powers of the Mists.

Specializations

Evolve your gameplay. With profession specializations, you’ll unlock access to a weapon previously unavailable to your profession as well as new traits, skills, and unique mechanics – all of which will transform your profession into something new.

PvP: New Stronghold Game Mode

Gather supply to hire soldiers. Battle for control of heroes. Man the trebuchet to defend your stronghold, and storm the enemy gates to defeat the guild lord! Use our new guild team feature to team up and battle to the top of the leaderboards. Stronghold offers an entirely new way to play competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2!

WvW: New Borderland

Experience epic battlefield combat like never before in World vs. World’s latest core addition, the new Borderlands map. Navigate treacherous heights with traps that blow your foes to the depths below and ferocious defenders to help keep the enemy at bay. Map objectives will be more important than ever before, as they’ll unlock new strategies, tactics, and play mechanics that you’ll want to use to your world’s advantage!

Guild Halls

Your guild has roamed the world together. Now, it’s time to claim a piece of it. Work with fellow guild members to claim and grow your own guild hall in the heart of Maguuma.