Expansion

Expansions, short for expansion packs, are paid content upgrades for Guild Wars 2. They introduce new content exclusive to them, including story chapters, explorable zones, masteries, mounts, elite specializations, and instanced PvE content. They can be purchased as standalone products without needing to own the previous installments to activate the latest release. The stories are not standalone, however, and all Guild Wars 2 story releases follow one continuous narrative.

Post-expansion content released prior to End of Dragons are referred to as Living World. Excluding the free Season 1, these are additional purchases separate from expansions that also require the corresponding expansion to purchase and access the content. Similar to expansions, Living World introduces new content exclusive to them while continuing existing stories and systems from the preceding expansion to then setup the following expansion. Under this content release model, major expansions are released every two to four years with seasons of Living World releases between them.

As of February 28, 2022 with the release of End of Dragons, the Living World content model was discontinued. Post-expansion content were previously separate and not included with expansion purchase. They were instead permanently unlocked for free upon logging into a character during the release period, or purchased with gems after the period if not claimed. Now, all future post-expansion content are included for free upon purchase of the respective expansion. Access to Living World remain unchanged, however, and are still standalone purchases. Under this content release model, smaller expansions are released annually at a slightly reduced price and free post-expansion content are released through quarterly updates every three to four months. The first release in each expansion cycle introduces a new story arc and expansion-level features that are further expanded upon by each quarterly update, with the final update completing the expansion.

List of expansions

This is a list of all major releases: the core game, expansions, Living World seasons, and post-expansion updates. These are ordered by their respective release dates as well as the story order. The first three expansions are referred to as the "Elder Dragon Saga".

• Core Game: Guild Wars 2 (Buy-to-Play: August 28, 2012; Free-to-play: August 29, 2015)
  • Living World Season 1 ― Scarlet's War (Original: January 28, 2013 – March 18, 2014; Re-release: April 19, 2022 – November 8, 2022)
  • Living World Season 2 ― Glint's Prophecy (July 1, 2014 – January 13, 2015)

• Expansion 1: Heart of Thorns (October 23, 2015; Free with Path of Fire: August 30, 2019)
  • Living World Season 3 ― Glint's Legacy (July 26, 2016 – July 25, 2017)

• Expansion 2: Path of Fire (September 22, 2017)
  • Living World Season 4 ― Rise of Kralkatorrik (November 28, 2017 – May 14, 2019)
  • Living World Season 5 ― The Icebrood Saga (September 17, 2019 – April 27, 2021)

• Expansion 3: End of Dragons (February 28, 2022)
  • What Lies Beneath, What Lies Within (February 28, 2023 - May 23, 2023)

• Expansion 4: Secrets of the Obscure (August 22, 2023)
  • Through the Veil, The Realm of Dreams, The Midnight King (November 7, 2023 - May 21, 2024)

• Expansion 5: Janthir Wilds (August 20, 2024)
  • Godspawn (November 19, 2024 - Ongoing)

• Expansion 6: Untitled (TBA 2025)

Purchasing expansions

See also: Account#Upgrade

Expansions may only be purchased with real-world money through approved retailers, however Living World and the digital deluxe upgrades of any owned expansion can be purchased with gems via the in-game Gem Store. Living World currently cannot be purchased with real-world money unless as part of specific expansion bundles.

Players must purchase expansions using the same distribution platform as their account. Paid content purchases made on a platform are not transferable to accounts created on a different platform.

Purchasing options are more limited for non-ArenaNet accounts. For instance, only ArenaNet accounts can purchase the deluxe and ultimate editions of an expansion with real-world money, with the latter edition exclusive to ArenaNet accounts.

Features overview

Some features, such as mounts, have been integrated into previously released content as a basic, full, or revamped version. The table below lists the current features unlocked upon owning the respective content:

Content	Free1	Open World Zones	Profession	Elite Specs	Weapons	Gliding	Mounts	Other main features
Elder Dragon Saga
Guild Wars 2 (Core) Buy-to-play: August 28, 2012 Free-to-play: August 29, 2015	1	36 (8 Hubs)		0	1	0	Basic: 2,3	Fractals of the Mists Dungeons Player versus Player World versus World Activities & Festivals Dynamic Events HLegendary Equipment (most)
Living World Season 1 (LWS1) Core required Original: January 28, 2013 – March 18, 20147 Re-release: April 19, 2022 – November 8, 20227	1	1 Hub	0	0	0	0	0	Public Instances (3) Strike Mission (1)
Living World Season 2 (LWS2) Core required July 1, 2014 – January 13, 20157	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	HLegendary Amulet6
Heart of Thorns (HoT) October 23, 2015	Bundled with PoF (August 30, 2019)	4			: : : : : : :	Full	Basic: 3 5 (PvE only)	Raids (4) Guild Halls (2) Bouncing Mushrooms Attribute Prefixes10 (9) HLegendary Armor HLegendary Weapons (all Gen 2)
Living World Season 3 (LWS3) HoT required July 26, 2016 – July 25, 20177	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	Downed Skill #5 GAscended Stat-Selectable Trinkets HLegendary Accessory HLegendary Amulet6
Path of Fire (PoF) September 22, 2017	0	5			: (m) (m) : (m/o) (m) : : : (m) (m) :	0	Basic: 5 Full: 3	Raids (3) Strike Missions (7) Public Instance (1) Bounties Guild Hall (1) Attribute Prefixes10 (6) HLegendary Weapons (most Gen 2) HLegendary Ring
Living World Season 4 (LWS4) PoF required November 28, 2017 – May 14, 20197	0	6	0	0	0	0	Full: 9	Bounties Mount Skill #'s 6, 7, 8 GAscended Stat-Selectable Trinkets HLegendary Accessory HLegendary Amulet6
The Icebrood Saga (LWS5/IBS) PoF required September 17, 2019 – April 27, 20217	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	Dragon Response Missions (10) United Legions Waystations Mount Skill # 9 GAscended Stat-Selectable Trinkets HLegendary Amulet6
End of Dragons (EoD) February 28, 2022 – May 23, 20237	0	6 (1 Hub)			: (m) : : : (m) : (o) (m) : : (o)	Basic8	Basic: 34 Full:	Skiffs Fishing Jade Bots Strike Missions (4) Guild Hall (1) Attribute Prefixes10 (2) HLegendary Weapons (Gen 3)
Post-Elder Dragon era
Secrets of the Obscure (SotO) August 22, 2023 – May 21, 20247	0	4 (1 Hub)	0	0	Weaponmaster Training Expanded Weapon Proficiency: : (m) : (m/o) : (m) (m/o) : : (m) : : : (m/o)	Basic8	Basic: 3 Full: 9	Strike Missions (2) Rift Hunting Convergences (1) HLegendary Armor
Janthir Wilds (JW) August 20, 2024 – Ongoing7	0	4	0	0	Lowland Spear Training: : All professions	Basic8	Basic: 34 Full: 5 (PvE only)	Homesteads Raid (1) Rift Hunting Convergences (1) Exclusive Relics HLegendary Spear HLegendary Backpack
Untitled Sixth Expansion (TBA) TBA 2025	0	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

¹ Individual Living World episodes were previously unlocked for free by logging on to any character during the episode's original release or re-run window. Refer to each individual Living World Season for a history of free access dates.

² Each character that reaches level 10 receives a 10-hour trial of the basic raptor mount. The trial timer can be tracked by the  Mount Trial Active effect.

³ Accounts with any expansion are granted permanent accountwide access to the basic raptor mount after they reach level 10 (or the next multiple of 10) on a single character. Accounts with PoF can further upgrade the mount via the associated mastery track.

⁴ Accounts with EoD or JW are granted permanent accountwide access to the basic springer mount either by talking to Lieutenant Zhao in New Kaineng City, or starting the Janthir Wilds story, respectively. Accounts with PoF can further upgrade the mount via the associated mastery track.

⁵ Accounts with HoT or PoF are granted permanent accountwide access to the basic warclaw mount after entering WvW on any character. For use in WvW, accounts must own PoF and allocate a point into the Warclaw mastery world ability. Accounts which include JW can further upgrade the mount (PvE version) via the associated mastery track.

⁶ Requires all episodes of LWS2 through LWS4 to complete the Seasons of the Dragons achievement. However, players without LWS2 can still complete the LWS2 meta-achievements by partying with someone who both does and launches each story instance.

⁷ Features are gradually delivered over the release period.

⁸ Accounts with EoD, SotO, or JW are granted permanent accountwide access to basic gliding either by entering Cantha, or during the Hell Breaks Loose or Unknown Territory story steps, respectively. Accounts with HoT can further upgrade gliding via the associated mastery track.

⁹ Different mount mastery tracks are unlocked depending on which content the skyscale is obtained from (LWS4 or SotO). Fully training both mastery tracks adds quality-of-life improvements to the mount. The LWS4 mastery track is required to obtain the HLegendary Vision trinket. The SotO mastery track unlocks the same mount functionalities as well as combat-oriented upgrades, and the ability for both skyscales and griffons to interact with updrafts and ley lines when the respective masteries are trained.

¹⁰ Stat-selectable equipment include all stats available based on the owned expansions.

See also

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Campaign.

• Living World — for the seasonal downloadable content.
• Release — for the complete list of game updates.
• Gem store account upgrades:
  • Bank Tab Expansion
  • Build Storage Expansion
  • Character Slot Expansion
  • Material Storage Expander
• Gem store character upgrades:
  • Bag Slot Expansion
  • Build Template Expansion
  • Equipment Template Expansion

References

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Guild Wars 2

Games	Guild Wars 2
Expansions	Heart of Thorns Path of Fire End of Dragons Secrets of the Obscure Janthir Wilds
Living World	Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 The Icebrood Saga
Other	Guild Wars Merchandise Promotions

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Expansion releases

Heart of Thorns Path of Fire End of Dragons Secrets of the Obscure Janthir Wilds