I know I said I wasn't going to get excited for the Arena Net announcement tomorrow being about Guild Wars 3, but after the latest update on Bluesky the community has spotted a 3 hiding in the artwork. Maybe a stretch and a backwards 3, but I have to admit I am setting myself up for disappointment!
What are your thoughts?
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| A well hidden 3? Guild Wars 3!? |
'Tis the season for Early Access apparently. After years of development, three games I've been following have announced and/or launched into Early Access. Unlike Christmas, though, this is not a time to celebrate.
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| John Smedley |
Reaper Actual, a John Smedley special (yes, that John Smedley), launched itself into Early Access and landed with a resounding THUD. Steam Charts topped out at 70 (yes, 70) peak concurrent players before falling to just single-digit players at any time beyond that peak. Reviews are "Very Negative," and the general consensus is, "There isn't even a game to play." What a fall from the heights of Smedley's pioneer status in the MMORPG genre.
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| Mark Jacobs |
Camelot Unchained, a Mark Jacobs special (yes, that Mark Jacobs), also stumbled its way into Early Access on Steam and dropped its NDA so we can finally talk about it. Not to be outdone by Reaper Actual, Camelot Unchained peaked at over 500 concurrent players and has maintained 100+ concurrent players. Reviews, like player count, edged out Reaper Actual at "Mostly Negative," with the common thread being, "The game barely works, if you can even call it a game." I have not played it yet, but I did participate in the beta previously (though that time is under NDA). I will need to look into whether my Kickstarter backing gets me access to the Steam version or not. Another sad fall for one of the pioneers of MMORPGs.
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| Raph Koster |
Stars Reach, a Raph Koster special (yes, that Raph Koster), also announced that it is moving into Early Access this summer. The Stars Reach playtest, which I've spent some time with, has been around for a while, and the game has changed quite a bit. Yet the Steam Charts for Stars Reach Playtest tell the sad story of single-digit peak player counts, with a prior peak of 117. Playtest access is limited, so we'll have to see how the community reacts when the game hits Early Access. I am sure Raph, who is a bedrock cornerstone of MMORPG history in my view, would like to see more players.
Of the three, Stars Reach is the most promising. There is an actual game with actual content. Reaper Actual is just a shell at this point. Camelot Unchained is mostly a tech demo built on a decades-old game engine. Stars Reach has lots of cool ideas, from building to terraforming to combat and all of the other things you'd expect from a Raph Koster online world.
However, as I stated up front, this is not a Christmas morning feeling, finally getting these long-overdue games from the pioneers of the MMORPG genre. I'll be amazed if Reaper Actual is around this time next year; I just can't see it surviving this flop. Camelot Unchained has already figured out how to exist for 13+ years, so it may have some more time left, but I imagine most folks are like me: "Really... this is what we waited 13 years for?" Stars Reach moving into Early Access makes me worry that the funding is drying up. They already ran a Kickstarter well into development, and now moving into Early Access to secure additional funding does not feel great.
The bad-news MMO bears of 2026 march on.
Arena Net is teasing a big announcement on June 5th as part of Summer Games Fest. The teaser was posted to Bluesky here and then the Summer Games Fest appearance was confirmed via Discord. This has been followed up by prominent community members receiving various teaser images. The immediate speculation is that they will announce Guild Wars 3.
While Guild Wars 3 is a possibility I want to temper my expectations as I've been burned two Summer Games Fests in a row. Two years ago it was the let down of the New World Aeternum announcement and then last year it was the assumption that ARC Raiders would shadow drop after SGF. I am NOT letting myself get swindled again this year so I am NOT expecting a Guild Wars 3 announcement. If it wasn't part of Summer Games Fest I may have a different opinion but the lesson we've learned is SGF pushes developers to hype their announcements even if they are big fat nothing burgers.
So what else could it be?
The leading backup would be another Guild Wars 2 expansion or large change to Guild Wars 2 such as a business model change. This sort of hype only to announce an expansion would be on par for my experience with Summer Games Fest the last two years. It is worth noting the teaser was posted to the Guild Wars 2 Bluesky account and not a more generic Arena Net account.
It could also be some sort of Guild Wars 1 update. They recently resurrected Guild Wars 1 with the Guild Wars Reforged launch and its been moderately successful so a big announcement for that game may fit, but still makes you wonder why they would use the Guild Wars 2 account. Maybe a cross over between Reforged and 2?
I saw some speculation in some comments about a company announcement and the possibility of Arena Net moving back under its own ownership. That would be sort of interesting but also a worrying sign knowing the state of the MMO market. It doesn't match up to having a spot in Summer Games Fest as that sort of corporate announcement would not match that audience.
Whatever it turns out to be my honest hope is it is related to MMORPGs. We need some good MMO news as its been a dumpster fire of a year for MMOs. But alas after getting burned two years in a row with Summer Games Fest I will wait for the announcements and news to come out after the fact. There is no way I am tuning in to watch.
If you are like me and have been unable to bring yourself to care about New World Aeternum's state or news as it marches towards its January 2027 shutdown then I have the video for you to watch. BagginsTV took time to consolidate all of the updates, news, and rumors from the past few months into the below video. In addition he talks about some possible games that New World addicts may have some interest in.
ARC Raiders recently announced a change to how you earn the +5 skill points for expedition departure. Instead of the previous model—where your stash value (coins + items) needed to exceed 5 million—it’s now tied to completing a challenge.
Putting aside the frustration of this being announced late in the current expedition, effectively invalidating weeks of progress for players chasing that 5 million stash value, I have a more immediate issue: what am I supposed to do with my time between now and April 28th, when the challenge window actually opens?
Before this change, I was enjoying the loop of heading topside and extracting with whatever value I could pull from a run. Sometimes that meant grabbing a few quick items for coin; other times it meant filling my inventory from a key room. Either way, everything had value. It all converted to coins—whether sold directly or held in my stash—and coins gave me a clear, consistent way to measure progress during an expedition window.
Now that coins no longer factor into expedition departure, I’m sitting on millions of coins and stash value with very little incentive to keep building. Completing quests or challenges right now doesn’t make much sense when I know I’m about to voluntarily wipe my character in the next expedition. Previously, those rewards still contributed to stash value. Now, it’s just stuff that disappears.
That’s the core problem: everything I do right now is effectively meaningless in the context of the upcoming reset. Yes, the wipe is optional, and I could choose not to reset and continue building up my stockpile to take down ARC and other players. But the resets are part of what makes the game feel fresh. Starting over, rebuilding, and chasing progression again—that’s a big part of the appeal.
We do at least know what the upcoming challenge will be: dealing damage within a two-week window. The requirement is 100k damage to earn the full +5 skill points. That might sound like a lot, but in practice it’s something most active players will likely complete without much trouble. Personally, I already have a stockpile of weapons, ammo, and grenades, and my inventory is basically capped with everything I’d want. There’s nothing I really need to prepare.
I don’t dislike the idea of a challenge-based system. My main issue is the timing and structure. Players spent weeks working toward one goal, only to have it swapped out at the finish line. On top of that, the new system isn’t something I can progress at my own pace—it’s time-gated. That’s a big shift from the previous model. I also don’t love moving away from a universal standard like coins and stash value, where virtually everything you did in a raid contributed toward your goal.
In reality, I’m still playing because I enjoy the game—but my behavior has already changed. I’m much more likely to skip picking up loot or save my keys for specific events like night raids. Why bother chasing higher-value loot anymore? For basic supplies like ammo and shield rechargers, I’m just buying them from traders instead of crafting—what else am I going to do with 3+ million coins?
I’ve also stopped doing as many “naked runs,” which used to be one of my favorite activities. There was something satisfying about going in with nothing, building up a full inventory, and extracting successfully. But that loop only felt rewarding because everything ultimately converted into coins and stash value. Now, those runs feel mostly pointless unless I’m targeting something specific, like a blueprint.
The community reaction has been mixed—if not outright negative—since the announcement. Most of the feedback mirrors my own: frustration with the goal being changed late and the addition of a time-limited requirement. Initially, the challenge window was going to be just five days, which has since been extended to two weeks. There will also be catch-up skill points available after departure, allowing players to earn coins and purchase missed skill points, which at least gives coins some relevance again.
Ultimately, what I want from Embark is consistency. Set the expedition model, define the requirements at the start, and stick to them for the duration. If changes need to happen, roll them into the next expedition—not the current one. Ideally, every play session should feel like it’s contributing toward that goal, rather than falling into the trap of time-limited events that sideline player effort.
At least they finally updated the stash screen and expedition screen to show your total stash value just in time for it not to matter :)
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.
