There were two things that I immediately noticed when logging into last nights Guild Wars 2: Heart Of Thorns beta event:

1. The game in the opening areas (notably the Silverwastes) ran better than the live client. Even though it was as busy as the zone normally is, I gained at least 25 frames per second. I was told that ArenaNet had intentionally made some gains in this department.

2. Verdant Brink is simply beautiful and is arguably one of the best locations ArenaNet have ever designed.

Joined by Colin Johanson who messaged me out the blue, I pottered through the initial Personal Story before arriving in Verdant Brink. Having already played many of the events when you arrive in the zone, I decided to head north to see what I could uncover.

It quickly become apparent that besides one or two events that I couldn’t seem to complete, there’s very little to do right now. Verdant Brink is effectively a shell waited to be filled with content. I’m absolutely fine with that because the Beta version we’re playing is behind the internal client and instead of attempting to root out events, I spent most of the evening wandering around looking at the scenery. There are two locations that truly stand out, the first being Ship Wreck Point and the sight of a Pact airship hanging limp and burning by a net of vines. To the south, Shrouded Ruins is both intricate and grand. The Colosseum type fighting pit, as seen below, looks beautiful.

What I like so much about this new area is that it has an entirely alien feel in comparison to the rest of the game world. You genuinely feel like you’re deep in the jungle under the threat of Mordrem. The verticality of the map is at first daunting, especially when exploring the Shrouded Ruins, and I freely admit I lost my bearings a few times in the Itzel camp thanks to their collection of rudimentary walkways.

I have to say that my favorite aspect of this event has simply been soaking in the atmosphere that ArenaNet have crafted. I briefly mentioned in the previous paragraph that the new area feels alien and I’m surprised just how much. There’s a hostility in the air, the Mordrem are a genuine threat (they hit very hard) and the landscape is so vastly different to anything else. The scale makes the area intimidating and the verticality dwarfs the likes of Lion’s Arch or any other capital city. It didn’t matter that there were few events or that my sound was bugged, because the map - the small portion of it we could play - is brilliant.

One particular event that Colin and I played involved running supply to secure a position within the Shrouded Ruins. It was a claustrophobic affair as you are penned in on both sides before the Modrem charge in. Whether it’s the fact my skill on the revenant is poor or that the Modrem hit like trucks, the event was undoubtedly challenging. The Mordrem Cavalier is a particular favorite and as far as I know, they are the first enemy in the game that have two states during combat (including a dismount). They look awesome and typify the tone of the area.

My overall thoughts about this brief Beta test and Verdant Brink are that ArenaNet have unquestionably created a perfect shell that’s awaiting to be filled. Of the events I played with Colin, they were fun and similar to that of the Silverwastes, they simply needed refinement and more of them. Undoubtedly there will be more and I’ve been assured that the Mordrem will take on a much greater threat at night than we saw here.

At the moment it’s all potential and with masteries still to be implemented, it’s clear that navigating around maps is going to be an entirely different experience once you unlock some.  My only concern right now is where exactly Heart Of Thorns is in terms of development. With the map so thin on content, ArenaNet have so much work to do. If there internal build is several months ahead of this, we could still be on for a launch around September. My gut instinct however says we might yet be looking at early next year if they’re after the polish the game deserves.

There’s a full gallery below of some of my favourite images from my 90 minute play test.