Memebers of the ArenaNet team will be flying out to Cologne, Germany, to show off Heart of Thorns to the audience at Gamescom 2015. The new expansion will be on display at the Guild Wars 2 booth, where visitors will have the chance to try out the new content for themselves.

If you’re in Cologne on August 8th, you’ll also have the chance to watch the World Tournament Series finals, where four teams will fight for a piece of the $50.000 prize pool. There will be discussion panels each day, and you’ll be able to meet members of the development team. Most of it will be streamed via Twitch, so you can enjoy it even if you can’t visit.

The beta event weekends for the Heart of Thorns expansion are nearing. The first one will go on from August 7th to August 10th, and everyone who pre-purchased the upcoming expansion will get the chance to take a stroll on a new map, try out the new profession as well as the added specializations.

The beta will be available from noon PDT on Friday (3PM EDT/9PM CEST), until noon PDT on Monday. As expected, we won’t be getting access to everything – only a portion of the map, as well as the general content, will be on show, since the developers don’t want to spoil the experience for us. We’ll be able to use a new button to create a lvl 80 character complete with gear, so we can try out the revenant profession and the new elite specializations (chronomancer, dragon hunter, tempest and reaper).

The game will start with a big battle in Silverwastes that will lead you into the new area. You’ll get to see a jungle zone and a place called Verdant Brink – only 25% of the area will be accessible during the betas. You will also be able to take the newly made characters for a spin in the old lands, in all forms of play. Progress will transfer between betas, so you’ll be able to continue where you left off at the next event.

There’s good news even if you haven’t bought the expansion yet – the Stronghold PvP mode will be available to all players during the beta events. More info can be found on the official blog.

It was just announced at Pax South in San Antonio, Texas, that Guild Wars 2 is getting a full fledged Expansion pack called Heart of Thorns. Announcement was made by the co-founder Mike O’Brien and game director Colin Johanson during a Guild Wars 2 panel that was livestreamed in front of more than 65.000 viewers on Twitch. Here are the major points that were announced about the new expansion:

Check out the official Heart of Thorns announcement page here.

• Heart of Maguuma Jungle is where expansion takes place and where you fight Mordremoth
• There will be no raising the level cap – no gear treadmill
• New way of character progression called Masteries
• Jungle is a huge vertical space – you will have to master new skills and abilities to traverse the new zones
• New group challenges that will require you to master those new skills and abilities
• New profession specializations – customization of professions
• New guild support and new guild progression
• New challenges and achievement
• New Legendaries and precursors
• Brand new profession – The Revenant – Heavy armor
• New WvW Borderland map
• New PvP mode – Strongholds
• Guild halls

Mastery System

• Mastery system is account wide and all level 80 characters you have will have unlocked what you unlocked with the Mastery system
• Mastery points can be gained from single and group challenges, exploration, achievements and more
• Hand Glide ability can be gained through Mastery – flight for your character for better exploration of the jungle
• New civilizations and you can master their languages and access lore for those civilizations
• Mastery system will allow you learn new combat abilities as well
• Mastery system will allow you to build collections that will send you on a quest to get precursors for legendary weapons

Specialization System

• Help you grow your profession into something new
• Almost like a secondary profession
• Rangers will be able to master the abilities of a Druid. Rangers will be able to grow into a druid and get access to a new heal skill, new elite skill and new mechanic, if a Ranger decides to go for a druid specialization. Druid ranger will be able to use a staff,
• Necromancer specialization will allow Necros to use greatsword weapon

Here’s the official trailers.