Curious about the Icebrood Saga of Guild Wars 2? Here's what you need to know:
Guild Wars 2 is a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) with a vibrant and friendly community, combat that plays like an action game, and tons of content to explore. Anyone can make an account and play the entire core game free, but ArenaNet also adds more things to do and places to explore regularly through Living World episodes.
Each Living World story arc is structured as a season, like a TV series. The most current is The Icebrood Saga, a chilling exploration of ruthless betrayal, overwhelming odds, and the mind-warping machinations of an ancient and sinister force.
In the most recent episode, “No Quarter,” a civil war threatens to tear apart one of Tyria’s greatest civilizations. Players are a major part of the battle in an event that spans a whole map, so it’s a great time to pick up the game and join the Guild Wars 2 community. Here are some tips to get you started!
Unlock the Episode
Each Living World episode is free to unlock until the next one is released, and all you need to do to unlock it is log in during that time. After that, it’s available to play forever.
Check which episodes you can play by opening your Hero panel and picking the Story Journal star icon on the sidebar. You’ll find a chronological list of Living World seasons, expansions, and all of their individual chapters (beware of spoilers!).
Just pick the latest episode, “No Quarter,” from The Icebrood Saga list and click “Play This Episode.” If you’d rather catch up first, you can unlock previous episodes with gems.
Source: guildwars2.com
Upgrade to Path of Fire
You’ll need the Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire expansion to play episodes of The Icebrood Saga, although you don’t have to complete it to enjoy the current story.
It’s worth it to play through the first Path of Fire chapter, which should take ten to twenty minutes and rewards you with your very own raptor mount. After you unlock the raptor, it’ll be available to every character on your account for speedy travel—even at the earliest levels!
Path of Fire also comes with the previous expansion, Heart of Thorns. You’ll get access to a ninth profession (Revenant), customizable elite specializations for every profession, and a massive chunk of playable content.
Source: guildwars2.com
Level Up
Living World episodes are tuned for characters that have reached level 80, the maximum level in Guild Wars 2. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get there, even if you’re just starting out.
Brand new to MMOs? It’s a good idea to try leveling a character the old-fashioned way: pick the profession, race, and storylines that interest you most and set off to explore the world. Everything you do in Guild Wars 2 will earn experience points, from completing chapters of your personal story to harvesting wild zucchini.
If you’re comfortable with the movement controls and game interface, there’s a much speedier option. Every purchase of Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire comes with a Max-Level Boost you can use to raise one character to 80 instantly. They’ll be equipped with armor, weapons, bags, and consumables so you can jump in and start playing the latest episode.
Visit the Wiki
The Guild Wars 2 community maintains a massive wiki where almost everything in the game is documented in detail. Whether you want an overview of the profession you chose, or you’re just curious who was the runner-up in the Divinity’s Reach Fanciest Cat Competition, the wiki should point you in the right direction. Best of all, you can access it in game by typing /wiki in the chat field.
Just be careful if you’re looking up information on recent episodes of The Icebrood Saga—many articles contain spoilers.
Enter to Win!
Celebrate the release of The Icebrood Saga episode “No Quarter”—you could win a brand-new SteelSeries headset, Guild Wars 2 mousepad, or Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Ultimate Edition!
Prizes
- Three SteelSeries Arctis Pro headsets
- Three mousepads featuring art from The Icebrood Saga
- Eight Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Ultimate Edition game codes
Guild Wars 2 x SteelSeries Giveaway Summer 2020
Find out about new giveaways and more on the official SteelSeries Discord server!