Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the MMO's first expansion

The first expansion for Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns, was announced today during PAX South, and ArenNet has posted a few content details for it on the official webiste.

Heart of Thorns contains a reimagined progression with the new Mastery system, which provides new training opportunities for characters beyond level 80. Players will be able to master abilities such as "hang gliding in the jungle, tearing the bark off of heavily armored Mordrem," or building new collections to earn precursors to a legendary weapon.

New quests await in the Maguuma Jungle where Mordremoth's minions grow by numbers, and allies from ancient civilizations will be met. There will also be new enemies to battle through the open world jungle maps, new group content, new events and storylines and new boss battles.

Profession specializations included in the expansion offer players the chance to unlock access to a weapon previously unavailable to their profession. This also includes new traits, skills, and unique mechanics.

The is also an entirely new profession called Revenant which is both heavily armored and equipped with "otherworldly powers of the Mists."

Players will be able to create a guild hall in the heart of Maguuma, make use of Stronghold, which is a new guild team feature with competitive PvP and the new World vs World Borderlands map.

A release date and more information will be announced in the future.