Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity Homestead Sneak Peek

With the upcoming release of Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity right around the corner, we’ve been on the edge of our seats waiting for any news on the next step in the adventure. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to be invited for a small peek behind the curtains, as ArenaNet showed off what's in store for our humble homesteads.

The arguably biggest change coming in Visions of Eternity is the ability to switch the locale of your personal plot of land from the idyllic Kodan forest to your very own island! This new map has all of the same crafting stations and resource nodes (including extra fishing spots) as earlier, but with a spiffy new look, tropical theme, and quite a few unique vistas to both discover and decorate!

To start, your little slice of heaven has its own magically active mountain, complete with floating stones and rideable Ley Lines. If you look closely, you may even find a nice little cave in between the gravitationally ambivalent bits of geology, which includes a surprisingly deep lake that has a passage taking you to a different cave… let’s just say you won’t be lacking in secret tunnels. Your new abode comes equipped with a nice little veranda and bar area, in addition to netting you some choice nautical decorations. 

Now, you may be wondering how one gains this new map and what happens to your old stuff. Thankfully, both of these are rather simple: by owning both the Guild Wars 2:Janthir Wilds and Visions of Eternity expansions, you’ll automatically gain access to the new area. You can preview it or decide to move over by talking to Lahar. If you do decide to start your tropical life, you should note that you can have either one or the other active, so you’ll have to (at least temporarily) leave the forest behind.

Once the decision has been made, all of your belongings will be packed up and moved to the new location, ready to be placed anew. As mentioned, your new land will come with some ready-made housing for starters, with more available to be crafted. However, Visions of Eternity has yet to spring its most exciting feature: everything is now a decoration.

Indeed, ArenaNet has heard your wishes, and now every bit of the house is a distinct item that you can move, flip, remove, and place to your heart's content! With the new system, you can easily change your simple lodgings from a beachfront property to an evil lair or secret rave club, if it strikes your fancy. Even better, the expansion allows you to save and load your layouts, so your favourites are only one click away! Layouts are saved locally, so you’ll have to be playing on the device you created it on to use it. You can, however, send the file to your friends or store it online for easy sharing. Visiting party members can also save the layout for themselves.

In addition to these new features, the expansion brings with it a bundle of QoL improvements, including an easier way to duplicate items and a new Modification skill to make lining up your decorations much easier. Finally, everything we’ve mentioned relating to decorations? Also available in the original Kodak forest map. Happy renovating!

Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity is set to release on the 28th of October.