Undoubtedly probably the most distinct function of final yr’s Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds growth was the brand new homesteading system. After all, one of many first questions that got here to thoughts when it was initially being revealed was, “OK, this map is cool and all, however what if I’m not into the cottagecore bearpeople theme?” It appeared like solely a matter of time till extra home maps would turn into accessible, and when Visions of Eternity releases October twenty eighth, gamers will get their arms on the primary new home map because the system’s launch. It additionally brings with it quite a lot of housing high quality of life options that will probably be notably helpful when packing up and transferring your residing area.
ArenaNet’s Sarah Davies was type sufficient to take us on a guided tour of all the pieces coming, so let’s dive in!
The brand new home map itself is a giant tropical personal island. It’s roughly the dimensions of Janthir Wilds’ Fireside’s Glow map, however options far more different terrain. Davies defined that one of many objectives with the unique home map was to provide gamers plenty of flat area to work with, however that already exists, so the devs wished to do issues a bit of in another way this time.
On the middle of the island is a small mountain with floating rocks throughout. Woven all through it are leylines, which gamers can trip like all others within the sport if they’ve the masteries. Diving into the cave mouth on the high of the mountain will convey gamers into an exquisite cave system crammed with luminous vegetation and ley magic-infused water that reduces gravity. It seems to be like one thing out of Avatar – in a great way! It’s particularly lovely at evening. We weren’t proven it with the shimmering aurora skybox just lately added to the money store, however I guess it goes completely with the swirling leylines.
The home on the island is an upended ship with a number of flooring and an outside bar/patio space out entrance. If that makes you assume outdated Lion’s Arch, you’re not improper, however these ship buildings are a bit much less rickety and extra tropical-looking.
The actual headline about the home a part of the homestead plot, although, is that it’s fully crafted from decorations! Which means not solely are you able to take away the entire thing fully if you want, however there are a number of latest partitions, home windows, and stairs that you should utilize to make your personal bespoke buildings. The devs are particularly happy with the placeable door, which truly opens and closes, a much-requested function. Even the ship is fabricated from modular furnishings, so you can also make even taller ship-towers or flip it on its keel and place it again within the ocean the place ships belong.
Extra excellent news is that the brand new homestead plot will probably be accessible instantly on the launch of Visions of Eternity, no mastery or story progress wanted! All you want is to have unlocked the unique housing system in Janthir Wilds, and you may ask Deft Lahar to pack up your home and swap your plot to the brand new one.
Talking of Deft Lahar, there’s a brand new housing vendor on this map extra applicable to the tropical island locale: a pineapple choya. Given the persevering with recognition of the bizarre little cactus guys, I’m certain lots of gamers will probably be obsessive about this new iteration.
For those who have been hoping that Visions of Eternity would allow you to merely have two separate homes, sadly, you’re out of luck. Nonetheless, this launch additionally brings with it the subsequent smartest thing: the brand new format saving function. With the press of a button, it can save you all the pieces in your homestead plot as it’s proper now, then both load up a brand new one or begin recent.
Format information are saved domestically in XML information. Which means in case you play on a number of computer systems, your layouts received’t comply with you routinely (though you can theoretically use a cloud storage service or the prefer to sync them), however the upside of that’s that you’ve got entry to the format information. Davies demonstrated opening up the file in notepad and copying some or all the values into a brand new file to make a backup or transfer furnishings to a format on a special homestead. Accessing the information additionally means that you could share format information to your pals! There may be additionally a brand new permission you’ll be able to activate on your home to permit visitors to repeat your present format in-game. For those who attempt to import a format that you just don’t have all of the furnishings for, you can be given a listing of what you don’t have, and you may even ignore the warning and it’ll load up as a lot of the format as it may well with all the pieces you do have.
Sadly, format saves are in your entire homestead plot abruptly, so in case you have been hoping you can draw a field round a selected construction and simply paste it into your new home, this isn’t going to do this. Nonetheless, Davies demonstrated that gamers can save their present format, clear all the pieces out, then construct a selected construction, reserve it, and duplicate the XML from that file into a number of different saved layouts. If that sounds terribly fiddly, effectively, that’s as a result of it’s, however no less than it’s one thing gamers can do. And it wouldn’t shock me if some bold gamers step up and create some exterior instruments to assist make a few of this much less cumbersome.
I used to be additionally upset {that a} preview window for furnishings nonetheless isn’t coming with this growth, as I really feel that that is the largest quality-of-life improve we’d like. I requested if that was one thing that may be potential quickly, and Davies defined that that is one thing the staff is conscious that gamers need and has regarded into, however apparently it’s non-trivial to implement, and when it got here right down to prioritizing including a preview function and including new stuff, new stuff received out ultimately. Disappointing, however honest!
I’m excited to brighten my new personal island residence and relieved that I can proceed to work on my present home with the data that as quickly as Visions of Eternity launches, I will save my present format and flip again to it each time I’m feeling extra “alpine cottage” than “tropical trip.”
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