Guild Wars 2 news » Guild Wars 2′s Living World Returns on July 26

We’re excited to announce that the first episode of Living World Season 3 is coming to Guild Wars 2 on July 26, along with content and quality-of-life updates for several other game modes! In the aftermath of Mordremoth’s death, what comes next? Come together with your friends to mourn the losses you’ve suffered in battle—and to investigate an emerging threat.

Read on to find out what you can expect from this season, what you can do to prepare for action, and how you can celebrate with the ArenaNet development team on release day.

Do I need to have completed the Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns expansion story to play Season 3?

Purchase of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ is required to access Season 3, but you don’t need to have completed the expansion story.

What level does my character need to be to play Season 3?

Season 3 Living World content is intended for level 80 characters. Every purchase of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns comes with a Level-80 Boost so you can immediately get one of your characters into the new season of Living World content. This item is delivered to you in a free Shared Inventory Slot, which is yours to keep even after you use the character boost.

How do I unlock the episodes?

Just as in Season 2, you can unlock each episode for free by logging in to Guild Wars 2 any time between the episode’s initial release and the release of the next episode. If you don’t own Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, you can still log in to unlock the episode for free—it’ll be there waiting for you once you purchase the expansion!

What can I expect this season?

Living World Season 3 episodes will release every 2–3 months. We’ll bundle Living World episodes with the kind of content and updates we’ve been adding through our seasonal quarterly releases, but the frequency of releases may increase. Our goal is to deliver quality content on a sustainable cadence, so we can drive the story of Guild Wars 2 and open world gameplay forward while also supporting our other game modes.

You’ll find out everything we’ve got in store for you on July 26!

But I still haven’t played Season 2!

From now until the release of the first episode, you can pick up Living World Season 2 as a bundle for 40% off through the gem store! And if you don’t want to play through it alone, stay tuned for tomorrow’s streaming schedule—we’ll let you know which of our partners are planning to play through Season 2 so you can follow along.

Please join us on the Guild Wars 2 subreddit on July 26 to celebrate the release with the developers after the release goes live! If you have further questions about Living World Season 3, head over to the official Guild Wars 2 forums.