Guild Wars 2's next expansion, Janthir Wilds, is releasing on August 20, and with it one of the biggest requests on the community's wishlist. Homesteads are a new player housing system, giving you a chance to own a piece of the expansion's new territory, and decorate and customise it to your liking.
I was given access to a Homestead that one of the developers had already started decorating. Its most prominent feature was a lighthouse they had constructed out of individual floor tiles, columns, arches and ramps. It's an impressive structure—far beyond anything that's currently possible in the game.
If you're not the kind of player who's going to spend hours going all Animal Crossing on a piece of land, Homestead does have a couple of neat features to woo you. It acts as a showcase for your in-game collection of skins and cosmetics. Any alts that you leave in your Homestead—they'll get bonuses for resting in it, including for WvW and sPvP—will still be chilling there when you log in with another character.
Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.