Guild Wars 2 What Lies Beneath Preview

mmorpg.com:

Exactly one year after End of Dragons launched, ArenaNet released the first story update that continues the EoD storyline. Last week I had the opportunity to preview this new story, new map, meta event, and the new rewards players can work toward. This is also the first game update since the recent Studio Update, where Game Director Josh Davis outlined some changes they are making to how content between expansions and expansions are handled. So, let’s dive in and see what lies beneath.

Shortly after the concluding events of EoD, the Commander is contacted to join an impromptu party with Rama and Gorrik. I didn’t see anything indicating exactly how short of a time after the close of EoD, but from various dialogue comments, all of this seems to take place a few weeks after. While catching up with Rama and Gorrik, we receive a call indicating the Jade Brotherhood is up to shenanigans again, and there are some strange reports of oddities happening. Of course, Gorrik recognizes this opportunity for the Friends’ Detective Agency to embark on their first case together. Yes, that name has stuck.

This takes us to the new map Gyala Delve, in a section of the Jade Sea we haven’t been to previously. Our tentative truce with the Brotherhood seems to be holding when we first show up, although they aren’t too happy about us poking our noses into their business. After questioning a few people, there’s a story step that involves participating in events, and the first part of the meta-event does count for this. Most of the storyline occurs in the map, instead of in instances. This is cool and feels a bit more natural, but when it gets to the point that fewer people are on the map regularly, it might be a bit of a problem. At certain points,