Guild Wars 2 What Lies Beneath Hands on Impressions

what lies ebeneath guilde wars 2

Guild Wars 2 What Lies Beneath Arrives Today and There’s More Than Gold in the Latest Update.

The very first chapter in a new adventure arrives in Guild Wars 2 today. After Mordermoth and Primordus extinguished themselves, and the End of Dragons brought Tyria’s constant cycle of destruction to an end, it’s time for a different tale. The latest addition to Tyria’s Living World returns to Cantha and we got an opportunity to dive deep into the Howling Caves in What Lies Beneath.

 

friends detective agency assemble gorrik and rama at a table

 

Scooby Doo This Skritt

With End of Dragons all wrapped up and the Isle of Cantha firmly established as a backdrop for the Commander’s adventures, the What Lies Beneath update kicks off like many other tales, with call to go meet a friend. A summons to meet Detective Rama and Gorrik brings the Commander back to New Kaineng City. This glowing hub of activity provides the perfect jumping off point for a rather light hearted reminder that life goes on after expansions end, that we all need to eat, and that things might be moving into a new phase with the newly establish Friends Detective Agency potentially picking up where another watch ends. It’s all a very jovial entry into a new round of activities that eventually drags us off into the core of this episode and a brand-new area of Cantha.

Gyala Delve

Situated to the east of Dragon’s End, Gyala Delve is mining operation gone terribly wrong. Established by the Jade Brotherhood, one of the many factions you’ll find in Cantha, this new slice of subterranean exploration is split into four distinct regions. Beginning in the central Excavation Yard, players will find a mixture of exposed Jade and local campfires all bordered by huge walls of green gemstone. The hazy sun that hangs overhead signals an escape from a more foreboding presence that seems to be lingering in the deep beyond, and while this location acts as a staging point, it isn’t quite the hub of activity that Drizzlewood Coast was.

 

what lies beneath gyala delve

 

Beyond the seeming safety of the ground level operations, Jade Brotherhood works toil to a different end. Lurching down into a monstrous cavern, the caves beneath Gyala Delve draw on the massive Draconis Mons without quite the same scale. It does, however, have a grandeur to it. Luxurious Jade caverns play host to a mixture of ideas. The mined-out cavern exposes a huge sea skeleton dangling above furious activity, a little glimpse into the past set-in stone. Strange and inexplicable plant life sprouts out from all angles. Twisting pathways and threadbare bridges wind their way over a chasm below, and enormous drilling mechanisms punctuate the core of this new map. Between the buzz of activity, a chromatic aberration seems to be causing problems. Swirling tendrils of magic turn this industrious region into hostile territory, with Brotherhood outposts overtaken and contested as enemy fortifications. It all feel that feels ominously familiar to anybody that’s finished End of Dragons. Foreboding danger aside, the only way to free the workers and continue on is to overrun these contested points and push back this malign influence. Darting further into what’s up below, things change quite drastically. The Delve switched from a quarry to a twist on the wildlife found below the Draconis Mons. The waterways that flow though this underground aqueduct is full of familiar ideas given a magical twist. While it doesn’t have the lush vegetation of the aforementioned cavern base, this is a wonderfully serene twist on what’s been done before.

 

brotherhood fort overrun by enemies

 

To say there’s a lot going on here would be fair. While we weren’t able to push into the furthest regions of this new arena, there’s plenty to do just in the first couple of areas, and you’ll need to engage in these activities if you want to explore. The corrupted magic that seems to be making the local workforce somewhat violent also restricts players exploring these caverns. While a series of new face filters can impact the effects for a time, following through with the map meta event will push back the haze that exists and allow players to properly explore. Much like Drizzlewood Coast, Gyala Delve is split into several zones. Each of these are held by an enemy fort and must be overcome. Cutting through these regions and taking on forts is a fairly well-balanced task. While the odd ambush is absolutely a run or die situation, grabbing a single group is enough to make significant headway into clearing the mines below. Kicking off the map wide meta is best started with at least 5 brave comrades and will be best served if somebody already has a Siege turtle. You’ll need to carve a path of destruction through the caves, kick down some doors and take down the forces that await in each of the forts. This seems to always culminate in a boss battle that is, again, hardly going to challenge the wider population in a small region of space. The flip side to this familiar back and forth battle is that it shouldn’t see the entire network of caverns abandoned one the Living World moves on. While this meta picks ideas from the Drizzlewood Coast and even the Silverwastes, the only real gripe I have is that there’s no obvious way to hire a Siege Turtle. Hopefully I missed that, and they’ll be waiting back at the Jade Brotherhood stables in Excavation Yard.

Loot throughout this new map is, unsurprisingly, riddled with lock boxes tied to a unique key. We know that these Jade Mining Keycards will be a necessity, but you’ll be able to mine a range of regular ores or trade in research Notes plus Karma to get them. Either way loot should be fairly forthcoming and take less time and players to unlock than it did way back in the Silverwastes.

While you’ll be able to grab keys and go chasing the loot train, players with plenty of Research Notes will be able to trade in for a range of Writs and new gear, termed” Liberated” Supplies. These include new Bracer and Arm skins, a Grinning Tankayun Mask, a Minister’s hat. Most compelling is the Advanced Control board, a Jade Bot mechanism that unlocks the Turtle Pilot Booster 3. This trophy will require players to push the entire map meta, so I’d get in early, so you won’t miss the meta runs.

Weapons

This isn’t all that will drop into the latest update. While there are plenty more options available at the local vendors, you’ll want to take a look at the entirely new weapon collection. likely be interested in a new weapon collection. The Luxon Hunter’s Weapons are inspired by precious minerals and gemstones that are integral to the Canthan aesthetic. There’s an entire range of 16 new ways to slice, shoot and bludgeon their enemies, although I don’t find this quite as compelling as the second-generation Legendary additions of previous Living World updates.

 

pistol sword

 

This is hardly the end of this arsenal either. One of the highlights of the new update is Tahkayun’s Edge. Seemingly inspired by the Tang Dao style of weaponry or similar straight edged swords, this come paired with some very cool accompaniments. In a first for Tyrians, players will be able to pair this with a dagger that adds a reverse grip. The accompanying Tahkayun’s Edge Reverse Grip Edge slots in a dagger that gives the appearance of handling an offhand sword using a reverse grip While there’s also an alternate hand Tahkayun’s Armor Piercer Dagger skin, this combination of sword and dagger is a subtle twist that doesn’t require a whole heap of work to obtain.

These, of course, come into the game with a bunch of new mini pets which we won’t describe for reasons, a new chair, and some additional weapons modelled on the Jade Brotherhood’s mining operation. If you’re a Mechanist or associated specialization, then pictured pistol might match your glowing golem friend. There’s more still but suffice to say there’s plenty of reason to go digging for treasure among the miasmic backdrop of these mines.

Final Thoughts

While my early entry into the Gyala Delve was hampered by some story bugs that hampered progression we still got plenty of time to look at what’s coming today. The mix of different environmental ideas weaved into the four zones in the What Lies Beneath map are possibly the best thing about the February update. The small excavation site plunges down into a cavern that melds visual ideas from the Draconis Mons with metas from the Silverwastes and Drizzlewood Coast. It doesn’t seem nearly as deep or complex, forgoing portable waystations and epic sweeping metas for content that’s easier to push over and endlessly repeat.

Overall, the map design is gorgeous with comparisons to the aforementioned underground cavern and even Bloodstone Maw creeping in. The thing is, it’s all brought together very competently with just enough care ton make it feel unique in among the familiarity.

I do get the feeling that in among the cool design and huge number of rewards, that veteran players are going to stay in this map for as long as the loot lasts and that there’s not nearly as much as I might have expected from the newly arranged content cadence. That said, we know that more is coming thanks to the recent 2023 Studio update blog, so why not grab a pickaxe and find some loot in What Lies Beneath, available for Guild Wars 2 players for free today. Check out more about Guild Wars 2 and What Lies Beneath on the official website now.

Written by
For those of you who I’ve not met yet, my name is Ed. After an early indoctrination into PC gaming, years adrift on the unwashed internet, running a successful guild, and testing video games, I turned my hand to writing about them. Now, you will find me squawking across a multitude of sites and even getting to play games now and then

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