The Tyrian Chronicle: Happy Two Year Anniversary! .

Has it really been two years already? It seems like just a few weeks ago I was logging into a beta weekend and hopping around with a few thousand others that were all as fresh and new as me. Now two full calendars later and Guild Wars 2 has really grown into its own and etched out a place in the increasingly crowded MMO market all for itself. With the second anniversary, there was no big expansion announcement, or the unveiling of guild halls, or even a date for the second half of Season 2, but it’s still exciting none the less. Now let’s take some time to look back on the year and look ahead to the future.

Happy Birthday!

Birthday gifts in Guild Wars 2 are back again, but this time with 100% less mini pets. Luckily the Birthday Booster and Experience Scrolls are indeed back again, but this time in place of a Queen Jennah mini, we get a Skill Point Scroll and a Birthday Blaster. The skill point scroll awards your character with 5 skill points – a nice little gift, especially for level 80 characters looking to get a legendary or some other high-tier item. The Birthday Blaster on the other hand is purely for entertainment battle, seeing as how it shoots cakes. Then again, it could be useful in battle, you never know.

Overall good selection of gifts, but another special mini would have been cool. I am happy that ArenaNet has apparently moved past their initial obsession with minis, but I would like it if they did not seem to entirely abandon the concept as well. Other than that, it’s a good selection of gifts. The Guild Wars franchise has always been really great at delivering good events, including birthday and anniversary celebrations.

What’s the Big Event?

Speaking of celebrations, you’re probably wondering: “What’s the big two-year anniversary event?” Unfortunately, there isn’t really a whole lot going on that’s specific to the anniversary. Well, other than a big Black Lion sale, but that doesn’t really count. Gamescom came and went and there was little more than a whisper about future plans for Guild Wars 2, so it leaves me wondering what’s next. Perhaps the second half of Living Story Season 2 is expected to be worth the wait for later this fall and make up for the lack of a big celebration?

As it stands, the only “new” content on the horizon comes in the form of the pending September Feature Pack. While this is shaping up to be an incredibly solid update, with changes from the server architecture and and overhaul of the new-player experience, all the way to improvements in PvP and WvWvW. It promises to be a huge and robust update to the game and its core mechanics, but it’s all steak and no sizzle. Which may sound like a strange criticism to have, as its usually the inverse, but something big, flashy, and fun to do would help temper the breadth of feature updates.

Looking Back on Year Two

Somehow, it’s almost as if the second year of Guild Wars 2’s lifespan went by more quickly than the first. After the growing pains of the launch month wore off in the first year, players had to re-learn how to enjoy and play a new AAA MMO and that always takes time. Even though Super Adventure Box has been noticeably absent from the game’s second year, the innovative success of the Living Story cannot be overstated. With the evolving tale of Scarlet and now the unfolding revelations of Mordremoth as a new dragon in the land of Tyria, things are getting more and more interesting.

Story elements aside, the game has grown considerably in its second year as well. A huge feature pack back in April and now another about to launch in September, means that the developers are squarely focused on making Guild Wars 2 the best possible game it can be, which is the key to sustained success. Too many MMOs have faded into obscurity after launch hype, but ArenaNet thankfully seems to be in this one for the long haul.

Looking Forward to Year Three

There are so many areas that could be improved upon in year three, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. I don’t consider any parts of the game broken, and each of the three primary avenues (PvE, PvP, and WvWvW) are all equally enjoyable and viable, depending on what you’re looking to do. A big new expansion could be a great next step, but with little mention of the topic in recent interviews, the odds of that seem slim and there aren’t many press events in the near-term that would suit such an announcement.

Deep down, all I hope is that they continue to do what they’ve been doing, but also delivering on more of the promises that they set out to do before the game launched. My thoughts on guild improvements and dynamic events have already been documented, so that would be a great starting point, but there are plenty of other areas as well. How about some new dungeons? Mix up the fractals some more. Give us new legendaries. A new zone with more things to do (I hate to say it, but Dry Top got old faster than I was hoping.) But above all else, just keep improving the game.

Instead of ending the second year with a big ol’ Box-o-Fun from the Black Lion Trading Company, ArenaNet took a more conservative route and it was really more of a pop and fizzle. Perhaps that means they’re hard at work on something super special and just can’t share the details yet, or perhaps that means a two-year anniversary is just that – a two-year anniversary and nothing more.

What Do You Want?

Now that Guild Wars 2 has completed its second full year out in the wild, what type of content do you want to see in year three? Maybe Destiny’s Edge will build a rocket ship to space and we can play in a Guild Wars 2 X Destiny crossover mission? Or perhaps they’ll discover a time machine and let everyone travel back to Guild Wars 1 locations in the Guild Wars 2 engine. Probably neither of those. Do you have any better ideas?