On August 22, Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™ will begin, taking us to soaring heights and telling a new story wrapped up in ancient mysteries. Last week, you heard from the Narrative team about the transition from the Elder Dragon saga, which began with the launch of Guild Wars 2 in 2012, into a brand-new adventure. And on that adventure, you’ll have a fresh, fleshy army of foes to face.

Beings from beyond the Mists

Early in Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure, you’ll discover rifts—tears in the fabric of reality—across Tyria through which strange, demonic forces are appearing. These enemies are the Kryptis. We’re not going to get into the rest of the story in this blog (that’s what the game is for), but for today’s purposes it’s enough to know that the Kryptis are mean and meaty, and it’s up to you and some new allies to find a way to stop their incursions from the Mists.

Chief among your new allies will be members of the Astral Ward (an organization you’ll have to play the story to learn more about). After joining forces with them, you’ll get access to the Heart of the Obscure (a mysterious and powerful ancient artifact) and its associated Mastery line—essential components in your quest to hunt and close rifts. While the story continues on from there, rift hunting will become a permanent option for on-demand open-world content.

Rift Hunting

With the help of the Heart of the Obscure, you’ll find nascent rifts across Tyria. Fully opening a rift will reveal Kryptis invaders who were roaming Tyria while hidden from sight. Defeat enough of them, and a more formidable champion will appear for you to face. Taking down the final Kryptis target will allow you to close the rift and will grant you Kryptis essence: powerful material you can use to craft weapons, armor, legendary armor, and bait to lure out deadlier Kryptis from rifts.

At launch, you’ll be able to find rifts in several explorable zones in Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure areas, central Tyria, Cantha, and the Crystal Desert. Rift activity in explorable zones not associated with Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure will cycle on a weekly basis. If you use the Heart of the Obscure in maps without active Kryptis rifts, you’ll get pointed to those that have them. In a future update, you’ll be able to progress to even deadlier hunts designed for larger groups of players.

The enemies coming out of a rift scale with the size of the group fighting it. That means that you can party up with friends for rift hunts, weave them into other open-world activities you’re doing, and even help out if you come across a stranger fighting to close a rift in the wild.

We’ll be sharing more details about other things to look forward to in Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure between now and launch on August 22, so check back next week!