Generally when a popular MMO announces a new expansion, said expansion comes with a raised level cap. More content, more grinding, that's the rule.
Well, that's not the case with Guild Wars 2 and its forthcoming expansion Heart of Thorns, according to developer ArenaNet.
"I know when people announce a new MMO expansion pack, they talk about what's the new tier we're bringing into the game," said ArenaNet boss Mike O’Brien, speaking at PAX South last week. “That invalidates all the work that you put into your existing characters; that ramps up the power-curve leaving behind a wasteland of old content that's no longer challenging enough and rewarding enough to be worth playing.”
That means unlike in something like World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor, you won't constantly be outgrowing the game and leaving content in the dust behind you. Neither will you need to hunt down the latest gear and weapons.
“We will never add more levels to the game, we will never add more tiers of gear to the game,” Guild Wars 2 director Colin Johanson told Eurogamer. “The tiers and levels we have today will be the tiers and levels we have for the rest of the life of Guild Wars 2.”
Which is pretty good news for anyone like me who has absolutely no patience at all for the grind. I barely made 60 in WoW, and the countless expansions quickly left me behind. Guild Wars 2's focus on story-telling, through its ongoing Living World updates, offers a nice alternative.
