My favorite classic MMO is permanently slashing its price by $10, just as it gets a massive new update
As I’ve said many times, my MMO journey didn’t begin with World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14: it began with Guild Wars 2. While I’ve found myself falling behind in both Blizzard and Square Enix’s respective epics, I always find time to at least check out the latest chapter of the GW2 saga – sometimes, you need that little nostalgia-driven dopamine hit. With Visions of Eternity now out in the world, accompanied by two elite classes inspired by its predecessor, now is the perfect time for the original Guild Wars to also get some love – and that, thankfully, is exactly what NCSoft has done.
Entitled Guild Wars Reforged, the game’s latest update adds a whole slew of upgrades. While the headliner is XInput controller support (that’s for controllers that follow the Xbox layout), there are various visual updates, too, with high-DPI support for modern high-resolution monitors and screens, as well as improved rendering. Get your biggest screen ready: Guild Wars is about to look amazing.
There are a few in-game changes, too, with new and improved skill icons, better ambient audio, and, perhaps the most important, a new quest tracker to help you get from A to B without getting lost. As someone who has a habit of wandering off the beaten path and regretting it several hours later, this is an absolute godsend.
But this isn’t just a visual patch; the entire Guild Wars story has been collated into one game. The Factions and Nightfall DLCs have been merged with the base campaign to complete the experience, and there’s no more subscription fees. Everything’s all in the one place, allowing you to relive the adventure from start to finish in full HD glory. It really does feel like Christmas has come early.
The Guild Wars Reforged update, which is free to those who already own the game, drops on Wednesday December 3. The game’s price will also decrease to $19.99 (down from $29.99), and it’s fully optimized for Steam Deck.
With World of Warcraft: Midnight on the horizon and my obsession with Fellowship growing more intense by the day, I feel like my festive season is going to be very MMOy. Is that a bad thing? Well, I don’t think so – who needs presents when you have vast, emerald plains to explore and beasties to slay? I rest my case.
