KiraEtsu523: i wish they would increase the draw distance. The fog looks realy ugly especially in the old zones and zones with less mountains, more draw distance would make these zones look way better.

ctc8998: I recently updated to a 5090 with a 9950x3d and this game is BEAUTIFUL at max everything.

frea2191: Why shadows of all things... so many people will reduce character details and shadows to a minimum to have better performance. Even with a great setup, GW2 runs on an over 25 year old modified yet unoptimized engine, that wrecks most modern CPUs and GPUs if too many players are present

AmyTazny: Sorry for the incoming essay but this is something I'm passionate about and this is the best GW2 news I've heard in a long time. I've been saying this for years - GW2 lighting and shadows is so far behind other games, even older MMOs like FFXIV, so there's really no reason for it to be this bad. I'm so happy they're finally doing something about it.

I'm a hobbyist artist so while I don't know technical game-developer speak either, I know the massive difference light and shadow alone can make to the believability of a world. This could be something that attracts new players as I know people who avoid trying GW2 because of its dated look.

I'm just really hoping the shadows will apply to your character too and not just the environment. If you don't know what I mean, go to your character select screen and apply the Lion's Arch background in your General Options settings. For some reason this is one of the only ways in the game your character has dynamic shadows - where they respond and move to the light realistically.

Preferably try this using a character wearing something that will create noticeable shadows, such as a wide-brimmed hat. If you rotate your character you'll notice how beautiful the shadows look. GW2 characters normally look especially flat because for some reason Anet made their skin glow in-game and it removes all depth.

If some people don't care about shadows as much as people like me, they can always lower/turn off the advanced shadows in their graphics settings so I really don't see how this could be a bad thing for anyone. Plus, it may not be as taxing as we think during regular play.

silversun-universe: You know, I was thinking the same thing Daren, about how performance vs the look of Guild Wars 2 would be a challenge. But you know what I realized while having to consider which computer I was going to need to buy to replace my old computer?

Many of the other games I play really have the same or GREATER requirements than what we do on Guild Wars 2.

So is it good that they are updating shadows and shine

akizh04: i'd rather get better QoL and visual control (turning off other's skill vfx)

hx9801: this does 10% of the things my reshades do....

andrasylvan: All the expansion maps have this "instagram like filter" on them, making the game really colorful and amazing. I wish they added that to core Tyria

Moinsen15: Crazy that you brought up Nw xd. It looks so shit on my 1080p monitor although I have a fairly decent setup. I just could not stand it at some point and I came back to Gw2...

Arrow333: If they increase the performance, the game looks better simply because you might get away with using higher settings.

But I also think they could get away with reworking one old map instead of adding even more new maps each expansion.

mudotter: Not sure if I am excited for it. I have a gamer lap top and it runs pretty hot at times with GW as it is. I've already seen the texture graphics improve steadily over the years, and this is my third computer since I started GW2, 11 years ago. So I am not sure if the shadow improvements will enhance my personal game play.

archivosdeaunn: Call me crazy, but I don't really see much difference unless I try to find it. It'd be better if they fix bugs of the gameplay or something really useful and noticeable, like the lag you get every time you go to leyline anomaly with all models turned on.

polowbornfly3862: I wish they would turn off bloom be default because the game looks so much better without it

Oct 26 2025

Buy GW2 Gold