Guild Wars 2 Has Pulled In Way More First-Time Players In 2022 Since Its 2015 "Heart Of Thorns" Expansion

Following the launch of Guild Wars 2's annual Wintersday event, developer ArenaNet published a heartfelt blog to address their players and accomplishments in 2022. The biggest highlight is that the game managed to pull in way more first-time players this year since its "Heart of Thorns" expansion in 2015.

To think Guild Wars 2 has built enough momentum to resurge its newcomer player numbers to its first massive expansion is quite the accomplishment for a long-running title. But it wouldn't have happened without the array of changes, new additions, and initiatives to put the game in an attractive state.

On February 28 of this year, ArenaNet released the game's third expansion, "End of Dragons," and later followed the return of Living World Season 1. The latter content addition had been unplayable for over eight years.

The developers spruced it up with new quality-of-life gameplay improvements to satisfy newcomers and veterans - eventually making long-term progress to implementing DirectX11 updates and WvW World Restructuring. ArenaNet also refocused efforts on GW2's combat and other essential gameplay systems to give them a refreshing touch-up. And we can't forget the long-awaited Steam launch this year, making GW2 an even more accessible title.

According to the blog, all of this wouldn't have been possible without the support of the GW2 community. Throughout 2022, ArenaNet was "transparent and communicating regularly" with players through studio updates, quarterly roadmaps, and balance preview livestreams. That effort "paid off" to where they already have way more first-time players in the game since 2015.

For 2023, ArenaNet will talk about Q1 plans that wrap up the DirectX11 transition, explains progress on WvW, upgrades the in-game browser technology, and share long-term goals they have in mind.