Some great Homestead changes are coming in the Guild Wars 2 Visions of Eternity expansion

Probably the biggest Guild Wars 2 feature introduced in the Janthir Wilds expansion was Homesteads. GW2’s version of player housing eschews the neighborhood approach of FF14 and World of Warcraft’s upcoming implementation for a large personal instance with a ton of customization options. The new expansion Visions of Eternity provides a new Homestead site on an island in the new region of Castora — but the beachfront view isn’t the only change as a host of new quality of life features are being added alongside your island paradise.

The main change with Homesteads is that the building materials are now “decorations” and not a fixed structure — and this applies to the Janthir Wilds Homestead as well. Players have gotten pretty creative with using other decorations to extend and modify their Homestead but this change will allow them to rebuild their domicile from the ground up.

Another quality of life change is the ability to duplicate a structure instead of moving it. The main benefit is when you’re extending a wall or pier or similar you don’t have to worry about matching the edges; just move it along the proper axis and select duplication as your option and it’ll connect automatically. Of course you’ll need to have enough materials to build the extension so you’ll want to plan in advance.

Layouts will let you save and trade your Homestead plans

The underlying architecture of the Homestead system only allows players to maintain one at a time. You can switch between them at will but as you might expect the game doesn’t remember what your prior Homestead looks like. Instead the new Layout feature will help players save and share their Homestead appearances. This feature will be particularly beneficial for those who want an advanced Homestead design but don’t have the time to put one together.

Saving and loading a Layout is a pretty standard function of the system; the game remembers both the decorations that are being used and their placement/modifications. These Layouts are location-specific, unfortunately, so you can’t port your Janthir Wilds’ Homestead to Castora — if you try to load a layout from the opposite map you’ll get prompted as to whether you want to switch maps.

That limitation aside Layouts are robustly designed. They’re saved as local files so if you want to make direct edits or share it in Discord you’ll be able to without any issues. You can also save other Players’ Layouts while visiting their Homestead. Probably the best part of the feature is that the game will tell you exactly which decorations you need to complete someone else’s Layout; that’ll give you a working list of what materials you need to collect to complete it.

Relax with a cocktail or plot like an evil overlord on your new island home

Your island home in Castora is not just a converted ship on a beach. At the center of the island is a mountain that holds a cavern underneath so if you want a mountain lair like a James Bond villain you can build it. There’s even a pool of water at the bottom of the cavern — with a secret exit out to the sea.

Speaking of the sea there are now fishing nodes available so you can practice your fishing while in your Homestead. Logging, mining, and harvesting nodes each have their own appropriate location on the island and if you unlocked Collection Boxes they’ll work here as well. The other Homestead nodes are gathered together near the home location so be sure not to build on top of them.

One final aspect of the new Homestead is that there are ley lines wrapping around the island allowing for quicker travel if you’ve unlocked Ley Line Gliding. Of course getting stuck on a ley line can still happen so the option to turn it off will be present like in the open world.

How to unlock the Visions of Eternity Homestead

While Visions of Eternity does provide a new Homestead site the feature itself is still dependent upon Janthir Wilds. If you don’t own that expansion you’ll need to acquire it and complete up through Chapter 3 of the campaign to unlock the Homestead.

The VoE Homestead is available immediately upon release — you don’t even need to start the story! Just speak with Deft Lahar in your current Homestead to start the transfer process. You’ll be prompted to save your current Layout before moving, but then it’s time to start building your new island home!