Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure™, our new expansion, begins on August 22. As part of today's announcement, we've got an official page with a high-level view of the expansion as a whole plus deep dives into combat system changes, story, and instanced content. And in this blog, you'll find information about some of the rewards waiting for you in the expansion.
Opening the Wizard's Vault
Your journeys in the expansion will bring you face-to-face with the Wizard’s Court, a group of powerful magic-users who live high in the skies above Tyria. For over a millennium, the Wizard’s Court has amassed a large trove of riches and curiosities in their private vault, nestled safely in their mysterious floating tower in the sky. Now relieved from their long isolation, the Wizards are hungry for knowledge of the world they’ve dedicated themselves to protecting and are willing to share some of their bounty with you…in exchange for a favor or two.
The Wizard’s Vault is a new streamlined rewards system that combines the best elements of the daily login and daily achievement systems, allowing you to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to–whether it’s PvE, Player vs Player, or World vs World, or a mix–and earn a wide variety of exciting rewards for doing so.
With the release of Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure, you’ll receive new objectives to complete daily, weekly, and with each quarterly release. As you complete objectives you’ll earn Astral Acclaim, a new account-wide currency, which can be exchanged for rewards of your choosing, such as new weapons and armor skins, a small selection of items previously exclusive to the gem store, crafting materials, gold, mystic coins, legendary crafting starter kits, and more. Those rewards will refresh on a quarterly basis—but fear not! As new items cycle in, any Wizard's Vault–exclusive rewards will simply move into a legacy section of the vault, where they'll remain available for the same type of currency indefinitely. Our goal is for Wizard's Vault rewards are meant to be attainable through regular, normal play; there are no paid upgrades or progression skips, and the legacy section exists to take the time pressure off and allow players to catch up if they take a break.
Some Wizard's Vault tasks and rewards are exclusive to Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure, but all accounts with a level 80 character will have access to the feature.
New Adventure, New Looks
On August 22, two new armor sets will become available. The Astral Ward armor and Rift Hunter's armor are thematically tied to the story of Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure; each set shares the same appearance for all three armor weights. A third set (also the same across all weights) will be released after launch.
* Note: This blog was updated after publication to correct information about the appearance of the armor sets.
Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure will also introduce a new set of legendary armor: Obsidian armor. This will be the first set that doesn't require heavy investment into raids or competitive experiences—instead, the various crafting components come from open-world gameplay in Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure.
The new legendary armor set is planned for release in the second major update following the expansion's launch. You'll be able to begin working toward it on August 22, though—crucial components will be available to acquire, and you'll be able to start training your Astral Ward Masteries to unlock crafting recipes. Part of the necessary steps for completing your legendary armor will be completing the Astral Ward and Rift Hunter's armor collections.
Beyond that, the expansion is rife with rewards that will be available at launch and over time. If you're prepurchasing the expansion, you'll get a weapon choice box that will get you started on the Eagle Eye weapon set—one of three upgradeable, two-tier weapon sets coming in Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure. On top of that, we've got new unique weapon skins, armor pieces, and back items coming on August 22 and in following releases.
We'll have more details on other types of rewards like miniatures, emotes, infusions, tonics, new fish, and more as we get closer to launch,but check out today’s story blog to learn how you’ll be able to unlock a skyscale mount skin reward. You’ll find even more details about Guild Wars 2: Secret of the Obscure in our combat systems blog and on our official site.